Nightmare Sunrise
by Manchester Devil
Summary: The worst case scenario has been averted by the Maverick Hunters but the price is high, and getting higher as a mysterious virus has been infecting everything and research teams have gone missing. X must lead a team of rookie Hunters into the dark.
1. Prologue: Discovery

**Prologue: Discovery**

There is a hole in the world.

A carnivorous crater lined with large metal grey thorns all tangled around the rim, the fragile earth blood-red with vein-like carapaces running from the forest of thorns before disappearing into the raised slopes. The night sky is a sickly, oily black sheet and the stars are a uniform purple due to the viral pollution from Sigma's numerous Virus Bombs on Earth and the Eurasia space colony, the latter being destroyed in a last ditch attempt to prevent annihilation.

A Reploid was carrying a small case in his left hand, his white lab coat flapping in the southern wind as he walked up the slope. The rock was cracking under his feet as he reached the threshold of the thorn forest. He took a small handheld cutting laser from his right lab pocket and flicked a small switch, activating a narrow but intense beam and begun to hack and slash his way through the thick grey curtain of thorns, scattering debris around him. Black oil-like liquid was splattering over his face, lab coat and case and was slowly obscuring his exposed purple and black armour and silver-grey hands before he was standing two feet from the edge of the crater.

He unclipped the latches on the case and opened it up, revealing two small mechanoids. The first is a small device shaped like a pebble with clear plastic domes on the larger surfaces to record and store information, bar one where a parachute module is in place to deploy and slow it's descent. The second is a modified Batbone, a small bat-like mechanoid with claws large for its size and increased wingspan and fuel tanks for additional flight capacity.

The Reploid then pulled a small metal tube from a stained coat pocket, pressing a silver button below the mouthpiece and spoke thus into it "This is Gate at the Eurasia Crater at 0432 hours. The purpose of this mission is to locate Zero, if not his remains within the locality of the site, I have a Campod fitted with an anti-viral protection programme to minimise infection, and distortion that may corrupt any findings. And a modified Batbone to retrieve it if not anything that provides clues to Zero's fate."

Gate then depressed the button and lifted both Campod and Batbone from the open case and placed them beside it and folded out the latter. Its wingspan stretching two point forty-nine metres from tip to tip and the fuel tanks could create enough to carry the Batbone and another object from the deepest abyss on Earth, in theory. The campod shuddered as if it was suddenly aware of its surroundings, internal readouts coupled with activating its recording apparatus. Gate picked it up and with outstretched arms, and dropped it over the edge into the yearning abyss.

Parachutes blossoming after the campod fell a short distance, making it larger and stand out from the darkness of the crater, the parachutes themselves disappearing from sight shortly afterwards.

* * *

While Gate waited at the surface, the campod floated slowly downward in total darkness, its cameras working overtime as its systems switch to night vision. It eventually landed with a bump, the parachutes falling over a second later. Small wheels folded outwards from the underside as the campod's CPU relayed instructions to detach the parachute cache. The campod then rolled out from underneath the useless parachutes, getting away from the cables and spent cache, night vision functions at full power as it navigates the smooth, vein-like passage. Thin wisps of smoke were drifting from the many-too-many cracks along the passage; the campod observes and records data as it trundles alone in the dark. The passage gradually closed in on itself and was starting to branch off in different directions; a tube-like corridor with stalactites and stalagmites that seems to go on forever to the west, a deep gorge with smooth crystalline surfaces between north and north-east that stretches out into the horizon and a cavern of flaky calcium and leaking veins.

The campod calculated as it observed these new routes and rolled off into the cavern. The calcium cracks under the relative weight of the campod amidst the splashes of liquid from the wirily straw-like veins, the CPU simply adjusting the spread of the wheels while maintaining the campod's balance on the fragile calcium surface and its course through the cavern.

Only for something to catch it's attention!

The campod made a beeline toward the unknown thing, whatever it was, while its CPU struggles to adjust to the various weaknesses of the calcium. As it got closer, it found it was a metallic object, with a honeycomb pattern in its hexagonal centre and thick wires ending only one inch from the hexagon casing before the calcium suddenly gave way and everything in existence was gone in an instant.

The Batbone flew into the cavern, just in time to see the deactivated campod being dragged down into the shifting surface by silicone based appendages and just afterwards the object that caught the campod's attention. The Batbone observed the object from overhead, and gently got closer...

Time crawled by Gate, who was lost in his thoughts, "So many lives lost, so much has changed when Eurasia fell and all those who survived are left to pick up the pieces." He mused "Or wait for the end, the ecological implications of Eurasia are yet to be discovered." It was this string of thought that disturbed Gate as he continued to ponder the aftermath of Sigma's greatest war crime.

"And we are supposed to be grateful for waking up to a life of uncertain misery!" a bitter voice roared from within "Maybe it would be better to be either destroyed by the colony or devoured by Axle the Red after all." Gate stopped himself at this point for he heard his words coming from his mouth and the fear of being heard by anyone, however small the chance might be. And he dared himself to again think about the creature that was bought back online by a cult that held him and several Reploids hostage.

A creature that went on the rampage amidst the carnage of the virus bombs, the panic of the falling colony and the breakdown of law and order as many Reploids were driven insane by the viral pollution, a creature that was once a Reploid.

"So powerful, so monstrous, such an incredible force of nature." He sighed "He had to be destroyed for his own good." Finally forcing Axle the Red from his mind and banishing his thoughts to the back of his mind. Just in time for the Batbone to return to the surface, holding a small hexagonal object, lifeless wires trailing behind it. The Batbone released the object into Gate's open hand. "A DNA datacore?" He causally turned it in his hand. "Probably an unfortunate victim of Eurasia or…" his voice trailed off as he stopped himself from mentioning that name, stopping to look at the datacores design, turning it more slowly. "It looks so simple, like something from…" he said to himself, while trying not to say what he really thought.

And then he had to leave the crater, taking the Batbone and datacore with him, through the thornforest, back to the research station he is based, under Maverick Hunter protection – he had to study it.

He had to find out for sure, but in his Energen core – he already knew!


	2. Prologue: Dreams

**Prologue: Dreams**

X was in a swirl of distorted mental imagery; shapes and colours clash with one another around him as he struggled to catch a glimpse of something familiar. Instead it all became a hideous pool of mental sludge and the stench of mind ichor was coursing through his nostrils, revolting the senses. Just as X had recovered from the nausea, the sludge had taken on a composite form of three figures he knew in waking life…

…but the details were still obscured by the rancid mental poison, the smell had become evil in its stench… virus-like in its effect on his body and mind. A feeling of revulsion and rage clench at his Energen Core as he turned away from the apparition yet it was always facing him, eyes opening to fixate on his. Only for X to see that the apparition had a face, the face of his fellow Maverick Hunter and friend, Zero, sending X reeling in the sludge before being scooped up in hands that were not hands, but claws, blades, feelers and teeth all clomped into an approximation of hands, all tearing into wherever they made contact, all exposing titanium bones and wiring and cutting into the former and through the latter.

The Zero facet opened its mouth, revealing sharp metal teeth, howled in great pain as the apparition's chest split apart, splattering the poison over X, burning him where it landed, causing him to scream in everlasting agony as the face of Axle the Red, a mindless abomination whose fearsome reputation stems from its highly destructive prowess. Balls of plasma energy started to grow in the Zero mouth, focussing its attention on X, who can see the mournful eyes that betray the apparition. Eyes that said to him "You must not let the sacrifices of all the Maverick Hunters who served alongside us be in vain".

Only for a growl to emitted from the Axle the Red facet, which for no reason started to vomit more mental ichor from its mouth, the stench was making X, coupled with the burns and the wounds, feeling sick as the poison was taking its toll. The ichor just merged with the slime pool, making X even more nauseous.

And then came the blinding flash of plasma as the Zero facet unleashed it's power on X, blasting him into oblivion…  
…and back into waking reality as X crashed his head against the protective polycarbonate canopy of the quick sleep capsule, merely chipping the canopy – such as the strength of polycarbonate.

X shook his head as he gradually calmed himself down, controlling his breathing as he lay in the quick sleep capsule.  
The canopy slid upwards as Wilson, one of the Maverick Hunters Livesavors, and Alia, the navigator who assisted X and Zero during the Eurasia crisis both rushed into the quick sleep chamber.  
"X, what happened?" Alia asked the Maverick Hunter, who had put the dream behind him. "Just a bad dream… that's all." X assured her as he sat up; Wilson was not convinced but kept quiet, as not to cause unnecessary disquiet. Certainly not in public, since Zero has been missing since the descent into the crater and he and X are both considered the public faces of the Maverick Hunter organisation, and heroes to the public, human and reploid alike. And Zero's absence is not good for morale. Even so, Wilson had to stand back while Alia was here and he would've done the same thing if someone else was in Alia's place, such as the caution he feels he has to take.

"X, Signas wants you at once." Alia told X  
"Is it about Zero?" X dared to ask  
"I wouldn't want to say but he requested for you to attend a briefing he hastily arranged. He didn't say what it was about but he wanted you to see him ASAP."  
"I'm on my way."  
When X made his leave from the quick sleep chamber, Alia turned to Wilson. "Something's not right." She told the Livesavor.  
"Quick sleep normally doesn't give the sleeper the chance to dream." Wilson acknowledged the navigator's concerns, while trying not to diverge too much to her. "It is a rare occurrence and harmless."  
"It's certainly an interesting phenomena" Alia nodded "But Zero must be weighing on his mind."  
"That's true" It was Wilson's turn to nod "I'm not denying that, but X has been a Maverick Hunter all…"  
"…the way back to when Sigma was the Maverick Hunters' Field Commander." Alia finished.  
Wilson thought of saying something but decided against it, Alia has done her homework before gaining employment with the Maverick Hunters. "Well, I better attend to the Hunters in intensive care, my resources are stretched and I need to balance the books, in the medical sense." Wilson shrugged his shoulders as he turned on his heels and left. Alia left shortly after looking back at the quick sleep capsules, noticing the chipped polycarbonate canopy before catching up with her work in her laboratory.

* * *

Signas welcomed X into his office, a spacious room with a sparse amount of furniture with the commander of Unit 17 saluting his commander.  
"At ease" Signas told X "You got Alia's message then."  
"I was in the quick sleep chamber." X told him, but not telling him about his dream. "She told me you have requested for me for a briefing."  
"That is correct" Signas replied "Lately I have been receiving reports of scientific teams going missing in and around the Eurasia Crater, you know as much as I do that we are short of experienced Maverick Hunters and we have to deviate from standard training procedure to keep numbers up. Zero going missing during your initial investigation into the crater has only exacerbated matters. I know I am asking a lot of you, since it has been three weeks since Eurasia and we have to rely on rookies to assist in all Maverick Hunter work."  
"Sir, Zero and I have helping in the training of rookies since the Repliforce War. And there are some exceptional rookies who we thought would have long lasting careers in the Maverick Hunters. That is a view I share with Zero, and I still hold this view to this day." X explained.  
"X, you and Zero are two of the best Maverick Hunters we have in the ranks and in my personal opinion, the top two. I feel that you being a Rank B Hunter is a disservice to your ability and experience and I sought to fix that oversight when the situation has died down." "Thank you, sir."  
"I know you are being formal, but I have no problem with anyone, from the greenest rookie to you and Zero addressing me by my name." Signas was never comfortable with being addressed as 'sir' or by his rank, a trait that goes contra to accepted commander protocols.

"Signas" X addressed him informally, "What are the last known locations of the research teams?"  
"Alia will provide the info whenever you have chosen your squad for the mission and are ready." Signas told him.  
"Thank you, sir" X formally saluted before he realised what he just did but Signas was happy to let it slide. After all, X had addressed his predecessor in this manner and Signas had been in the job for five weeks. Just as X was about to leave, Signas told him one last thing, the crux of the briefing in Signas's mind.  
"I understand Zero's disappearance has weighed on your mind lately."

X stopped just short of the door, hand likewise of the handle. He then withdrew himself from the door and approached Signas again.  
"That I will not deny, and Gate and I have been searching for his whereabouts at the Eurasia Crater on two occasions, Gate has also done research in his spare time from his research into Eurasia's environmental impact." X felt slightly better from disclosing his private investigation. And Signas simply nodded his head, and told X thus "While I understand your position, based on your report which I am grateful you were able to write in short even though I would excuse you from doing so. We cannot really divert vital resources into his disappearance". X grew apprehensive but decided not to argue his case, Signas is correct about resources.

"However, you are free to use all necessary means to find the missing research teams, with reasonable limits." Signas felt ready to give X full control of his mission. "I'll update Alia on the mission parameters and I'll be happy to talk to Gate regarding Zero on your behalf." X felt a sense of relief and some weight lifted from his shoulders.  
"Thank you, Signas."  
And he opened the door and closed it behind him, finally able to make preparations for the mission.

Alone in his office, Signas pondered about what X and Gate had been up to in the Crater, after all, access to the site had been forbidden by him since X returned from the Crater alone, with a sabre in hand. Something that may be the key to the Sigma Virus - or was it the Zero Virus, he had no idea of knowing for sure, that had corrupted so many in the past may be out of his reach. "Damn you, Zero, damn you" Signas muttered a curse as he taken Wilson's report into Zero's reaction to the Virus from his desk drawer. "If only you were still with us".

* * *

In his quarters, X picked up a sabre handle from a draw in his desk by a window; a stylised 'Z' chiselled on the hand guard bears the signature of its missing owner. A click on the underside activates its green blade beam. "I'll find you, Zero." He solemnly whispered before deactivating the sabre and inserted it into a backpack Alia had designed for him. And uploaded a file on the rookie Hunters he and Zero had selected for duty in case either of them had been declared missing or dead.

The Sun had started to rise on Camp: Excelsior, the oily black of night making way for a fractured blue-purple morning. The Sun itself is a sickly orange-yellow shimmer and the few clouds were a shade of blackened, murky green.  
A short distance away, north-by-north-east in Camp: Carrington. Gate had been studying the datacore his Batbone had discovered under the Craters surface; zeros and ones dancing across a double screen monitor as code is being sieved, separated and compared to Zero's DNA data. He was just twenty-seven per cent through the identification process, and it weighed heavily on him as the counter at the bottom right corner of the right hand monitor stayed still for minutes that seemed like hours. Gate blinked for an instant and now it was twenty-eight per cent. The Batbone lay on a small workshop table in the left corner of Gate's quarters, connected to a tower powering the monitors half the room away. It's empty, unblinking eyes just staring at the Reploid scientist.


	3. Deployment

**Deployment**

"_No watcher can ever forget that sight, and Amni stared blankly at the stars of Cygnus, Deneb twinkling above the others, where the colour had melted into the Milky Way. But his gaze was the next moment called swiftly to earth by the crackling in the valley. It was just that. Only a wooden ripping and crackling, not an explosion, as so many others of the party vowed. Yet the outcome was the same, for in one feverish, kaleidoscopic instant there burst up from the doomed and accursed farm a gleamingly eruptive cataclysm of unnatural sparks and substance; blurring the glance of the few who saw it, and sending forth to the zenith a bombarding cloudburst of such coloured and fantastic fragments as our universe must needs disown."_

_H.P. Lovecraft – The Colour Out of Space_

Wildman was jolted back into reality as he heard a knock on the door, followed by a familiar call from a voice he knew from his days in the Maverick Hunter academy back in Nevada; a click of a mouse he designed to work with the touchscreen interface minimised the window of text on his monitor, switched it off and packed away books of sketches he had drawn throughout the night and stood up to attention. He knew he should have got some sleep but the night sky of late reminded him of impossible creatures and phantasmal colours from outer, inhospitable regions of the universe; hence his choice of reading and reading material of late. His drill sergeant from the academy, X, came swiftly through the door. Wildman, a stocky built Reploid of bookish appearance, grey eyes, with unoccupied connectors and clips on his lower arms, back and shoulders noticed the hilt of a sabre in X's back but saluted him nonetheless.

"At lease Wildman", the young rookie silently obeyed the order but what followed was a whirlwind in his mind. "You have the skill and ability to be a great Maverick Hunter" X started his speech, "I have been impressed with your dedication to duty during your training and deployment, especially during Eurasia. Therefore; you have been selected for deployment into the field. Mission debriefing will take place outside the entrance at 0730 hours and departure will be an hour to two from start of debriefing, depending on information." The only word in Wildman's mind was 'yes', it was always 'yes'; it was always yes when he enrolled into the Maverick Hunter academy in Nevada, it was always yes when he was selected for deployment, it was always yes, always. But the only words Wildman could say were "Thank you, sir."

X allowed Wildman to take everything in for a moment, for he had another six rookies to repeat his speech for they all impressed both him and Zero while they had the time to check up on their progress. But only he had feedback from Signas on their performance during Eurasia, and he had nothing but praise for all of them for their maturity in duty beyond their years. A fact that pleased X greatly, and would have been music to Zero's audio modules. Once Wildman had personally attached all his armaments to his body, he looked more like a small mobile tank than a Reploid; small, light-weight laser barrage pods and a 5mm gattling gun on the outside and underside of both forearms, a small missile salvo over both shoulders and his back is now an armament in itself; the top half is a short range S.A.M unit and the bottom is a store of anti-tank claymore mines. His legs have spread out by 25mm to compensate for the extra weight. X was always surprised at the transformation. Wildman's technological design was a crude, cumbersome imitation of his own sleek custom armour system. A download from Dr Light in the right place could usually give him the power of limited flight or enable the X Buster to unleash a succession of powerful shots from a single charge, the physical and colour changes are merely a symptom of the downloads. Yet X had to wait for Alia to decrypt the data for the Falcon and Gaia armours because the doctor was concerned with corruption from Sigma's viral bombs but how did the doctor know Alia's name without knowing who she is? Now was not the time for X to ponder as Wildman was waiting patiently.

"Are you ready, sir?" Wildman asked X under all the armaments. "Yes, I am. Proceed to the forecourt and I'll see you shortly." X replied before leaving Wildman's quarters. Wildman turn on his monitor before closing the page he was on and shutting down his PC, with some difficulty as he had to detach one of the gattling guns. He left his quarters having reattached the gattling gun, again with great difficulty because of his width. He had to step through the door diagonally as the barrage pods and widened legs made walking through the door impossible, and taking care with his back for it is loaded with dormant missiles and mines. "Christ, why didn't I just get my gear on afterwards?" Wildman muttered under his breath as he cleared the doorway and proceeded to the forecourt, the floor still keeping appearances despite the heavy footsteps.

* * *

Outside Camp: Excelsior was baked yellow-orange ground, wisps of shifting sand blowing in from the south. Barbed wire and laser guided pillboxes provide security from outside threats, such as roving bands of Viral Mavericks, or VMs as Maverick Hunters tagged them after the Doppler incident, renowned for their lack of fear of death, uncontrolled rage and insanity. Two Maverick Hunters are waiting in the chilled desert as the sun climbs over the horizon; the former was slender, lightly armoured, helmet exposed at the top revealing brown cropped hair and large, alert brown eyes had a thin hilt on his hip; the latter was bulkier in stature and armour covering all but the face, double-headed axe in hand and small blue eyes. "What do you think, Tusker?" The former asked the latter who was looking back at the entrance to Camp: Excelsior, hand over eyes as the sun's rays cut across the barbed wire. "Well, nice to see our old drill sergeant joining us this time." Tusker grunted in a low voice that was several octaves from blending with the desert wind. "C'mon Tusk', we can still get a tan while we wait." The former trying to appeal to Tusker's better nature, only to be met by a wall of silence, Edwin thought to drop the subject. Still, it's better to try than let something sour continue to be so.

"Hey guys!" Wildman's voice carried over the desert wind to the two Hunters, his friends from the academy. He then broke into a plodding walk (as close as he could jog) because of the combined weight of his armaments and met up with them, the excitement on his face was plain for them to see. Even Tusker's thin mouth broke into a smile. "How the hell did you manage to get out in all this?" Tusker asked him, "Well, I managed." He sheepishly shrugged his shoulders, his face going red. He turned to the slim Hunter "Yo, Wildman!" his pronunciation of his friend's name separated the verb and the noun. "Still reading your ghost stories?" he jokingly jabbed at him. "Still am, Edwin Belmont!" Wildman responded in kind. Tusker could only laugh at the duo as Edwin and Wildman continue to make fun of one another before pretending to bang their heads together.

X mentally crossed off another three names of his list of promising rookies as he was walking down another corridor, he had always taken charge of a squad of Hunters during a mission since he was Field Commander after the Schism War and commander of Unit 17 after a major restructure of Maverick Hunter rank and field after dealing with the X-Hunters. But those squads had Hunters who had served alongside him for years; these Hunters on the other hand only had weeks. Yet they had proved themselves again, and again. Memories of teams he had put together were torn apart and replaced, torn apart and replaced, torn apart and replaced. He should have got used to it but he hasn't and his core grew heavy within his chest. And then he needed Alia for the debriefing with the selected rookies. With a heavy sigh, X knocked on the door and called out to the occupant.

"So, any ideas about this mission X called us up for?" Wildman asked Edwin and Tusker, "Well dude, all he said that he was proud of us and our dedication to our work, especially during Eurasia. That and he selected us for this mystery mission, which he said would be revealed at half seven this morning." Edwin told him, Tusker was looking at the camp entrance to see if anyone else was coming. And someone was; a Reploid as slender as Edwin, visor covering the eyes, one shoulder pad with a triangle embodied with the initials 'MH' in the middle, and a hilt slightly longer with Edwin's on the right side of his hip. "Great, it's Captain Bore…" Tusker sneered. 'Captain Bore' was Anders, an acquaintance of the trio from their days at the Nevada academy. Anders calmly approached and stood a foot away from the others, looking across the horizon as the time to the briefing was fast approaching.

He was followed at Caitloin, a field medic who joined the Maverick Hunter academy in Virginia to train as an engineer, her build is between Edwin and Tusker's, bright green eyes and brown hair kept in place by her helmet, she also has a sidearm hidden in her left thigh due to her busy design left little room for weapon concealment. After her were Exeter and Rexus; the former was adopted by Wilson and normally works alongside him in the intensive care unit; he was also trained by X and Zero. He normally wears the Lifesavor uniform despite being a foot shorter than his 'father' but he is lightly armoured, sharp eyed and had smooth facial features and the latter was a hulking giant with eyes black as shadows, of stern face and armour like jagged crags, he is taller than everyone else and bulkier than Wildman and holding a bolt thrower, a large assault rifle, in his hands. "What now?" Rexus asked the Lifesavor in a deep growl, "Awaiting deployment into the field for God knows what; I should be with my father in the intensive unit, helping the patients." Exeter told the giant "Hippocratic Oath and all the medical stuff he taught me, that's what he drilled into me." "X and Zero gave you one thing that Wilson didn't; weapons training." Rexus reminded him. "I'd prefer doing so as the last resort." Exeter reluctantly shrugged his small shoulders before reminding himself "But at least my skills as a medic could be of some use". Caitloin shook her head in disgust and spat on the ground.

* * *

X made his way to Alia's quarters after the last rookie was seen to, and knocked on the door, he didn't need to call out as she opened the door for him. "Hi, X. Help yourself to a drink" she greeted him and beckoned him in for a seat; X had done so with a cup of water. "Thanks, I've arranged a debriefing at 0730 and only you got the information." X told her as he held the cup in his hand. "Yeah; Signas got the news from Gate and he immediately arranged the rescue mission." Alia answered before returning to her work. She had got used to him raiding the water cooler instead of the coffee machine she installed on a small table by her desk, numerous files all neatly arranged in alphabetical order. X didn't notice his biosystematics on the monitor as he sipped the last of the water. Alia mechanically held a small black chip in her hand toward him, her eyes on the biosystematics; X just stared at her for a few seconds before taking the chip, only noticing the detailed diagram at the last minute from the corner of his eye.

Unaware that X saw her work. Alia moved a hand to manipulate the diagram and turning it around so the back was on the monitor before touching it, and with it shedding the outer layer like a piece of paper, revealing changes to the titanium endoskeleton; small flight boosters underneath triangular rods in the upper torso and tiny compressed blocks within the arms. She focussed her attention on one of the arms with a single touch and the diagram instantly zoomed and twisted with an upward movement of that finger; the X Buster's inner workings had become more intricate than the last time, which had left her at a complete loss for a moment before taking a blue folder from its place and opening it out. She had begun to sieve through the data, old printed diagrams that were still clean as the day they were printed out, which she had requested from a host of contacts she had made before taking her current position. She turned to X who had helped himself to another cup of water and held a cup of coffee; white, no sugar and steaming.

"Thanks X" She accepted the cup and placed it on a small, stained mat. "I needed that, but I can't help but wonder about the changes in your mechanical structure. I mean; for someone who is against violence, you are quite the war machine." X let out an audible groan and was about to put a hand to his face as she took six sheets of paper from the folder and laid them out in front of her and wishing she wasn't so blunt. The systematics of the X Buster from left to right from her perspective; the first being decades old and before the Schism War, the second was after that war, the third after the X Hunter skirmish and so forth until she pointed at the monitor, at the current diagram. "Sorry about the war machine comment, I know you want to avoid violence unless you got to." Alia keeping her eyes on X as she tried to explain her position, seeing a smile creep across his face. She turned her attention back to the diagrams "The changes in your X Buster design suggest that these downloads you've received during certain campaigns activate nanobots in your systems in such a way that your appearance isn't altered and the updates are in lockdown afterwards. Problem with this is that the logic behind my current theory breaks down when you don't reactivate these nanobots." "What about the patch for the Force Armour?" X knew where Alia was coming from and reminded her of a download she personally administered. "It was a near perfect emulation, bar a few features I couldn't figure out before the experiment. It took me a month to get that close." Alia explained further "I've been trying for a patch for the Falcon Armour programme but simulations indicate that it'll only emulate its physical appearance but not the abilities, given the time constraints" she finally conceded. "You mean this chip?" X asked. "Yeah, I could combine the physical aspects of the Falcon Armour with the abilities of the Force Armour with a subroutine probe." Alia latched onto another idea. "It shouldn't be too much of a problem".

"I have a place for you in the team after the debriefing." X changed the subject; something Alia had been anticipating since he entered her quarters. "I thought you never asked; you can ask for Signas's consent to allow me to join you but he already gave you full control." She took her cooling cup of coffee, downed it and dropped the empty cup into a waste bin, and turning her computer off.

Two minutes from the start of the designated debriefing; the last two rookies to join the group were Blair and Solaris; Blair is a lean Reploid with a simple mask covering the lower half of his face, yellow hair and a permanent buster on his left arm, which has been modified for engineering use and Solaris is slightly shorter than Blair, stocky, all white armour with a sun motif on her chest, detachable visor covering her eyes, short ponytail coming out of her helmet and a small handheld buster attached to her left thigh. Just as they settled amongst the others conferring with one another, X and Alia stood behind, a minute before the scheduled time. "You're sure about having the debriefing outside?" She whispered to X. "They need to know what their mission entails." X whispered "Zero and I have personally trained them in various academies, and Wilson wanted us to look out for his son, Exeter." Alia understood and silently nodded.

0730 hours and in a loud, clear voice, X called out to his charges. "Attention, Maverick Hunters!" They all turned and got into place amidst the barren desert; shortest at the front, tallest at the back. Their audio modules tuned out the desert wind and focussed their attention on X and Alia, the latter they knew nothing about. X begun proceedings with a speech he had mentally prepared "These last six weeks have been very tough on us, stretching our resources to breaking point. Eurasia became a tomb and a weapon of mass destruction, and the detonation of virus bombs causing global panic, rioting and viral infection, and Axle the Red being reactivated making an already dire situation even worse. All of you have gone beyond the call of duty; keeping food and medical supply lines open to those in need, maintaining order when it threatened to break down into anarchy and helping secure parts for the Enigma cannon, which ultimately bought us enough time to ready a shuttle as our thinning numbers tried to contain Axle the Red." X paused for breath as Wildman could only look at X in awe as his mouth opened agape, Anders and Exeter feeling a sense of pride swell inside their chests and Caitloin simply saluted. Edwin gave a wry smile, Rexus nodded his head, Blair and Solaris acknowledged their roles while Tusker flicked her head, wondering when X and 'Blondie' were going to get to the important stuff.

"Joining us, pending a decision from Commander Signas, on this mission is Alia. She's a navigator with a scientific background and has played her part during Eurasia; and now she will explain the situation." X introduced her to the rookies as she took over speaking duties. "Thank you, X. A week ago; four research teams departed Camp: Carrington to four locations spread out over the Israeli/Lebanese and Israel/Jordanian borders and the Gaza Strip. The locations in question are; the coast of Gaza, Mt. Hermon on the Israeli/Lebanese border, the city of Kiryat Shmona, the northernmost city of Israel and the desert plateau, Wadi Rum by the Dead Sea. These locations were selected by Gate who wanted to look into the long term effects from the fallout of Eurasia. They have not returned and long distance communication is out of the question unless it's a distress call under certain circumstances. The 7 day deadline had expired yesterday, no contact was made from any of the teams and with the situation still critical, we need to find and get them out of the hot zones and back to either Carrington or Roma."

Solaris's eyes widen when Alia mentioned the communication ban and turned to Blair, who nodded as she conferred with him.

"We will depart for Carrington in a small aircraft in 0830 hours where they have a larger craft with all sorts of supplies in store; fuel, anti-viral programmes, Ride Armour, rations and ammunition for those who need it. We can use Camp: Roma in addition to Carrington for refuelling and for dropping off any survivors. Questions will be answered when we get to Carrington." Alia concluded her part, and X resumed his speech "We need to find them as their survival, and research, could provide information into the long term effects and the strategies for dealing with them. This will be difficult as they could be anywhere within these locations and we will be stepping into the unknown but I have every confidence in your abilities; to many, you may be rookies but to us you are Maverick Hunters." X felt he and Alia had disclosed enough information for now, "Let's move out!" X was greeted by nine cheering voices as he said these words and they boarded the small aircraft to Carrington.

* * *

The flight was short and they reached Camp: Carrington before they got comfortable in their seats. Carrington was three times the size of Excelsior. A garage for the maintenance of heavy vehicles and other large machinery occupies the eastern sector of the base and the laboratories and medical bays are on the western quadrant. A Reploid not quite Rexus's height but with an over-sized barrel nut built into his head, wearing a white lab coat over a black shirt and sharp, red eyes under chevron eyebrows came out of Carrington's entrance to greet the Hunters. "You must be the Hunters from Excelsior, my name is Isoc and I am Gate's assistant." He introduced himself and shook X's hand; but the handshake felt loose as Isoc broke away barely a second later as a slight shiver came over him. "Are you OK, Isoc?" X enquired as the scientist quickly regained his composure and lead them to a larger aircraft further down the runway. "I'm… fine, thank you." Isoc hesitated as he responded "We can't… afford to waste any time with unnecessary pleasantries; come, fellow me." "I've never seen anyone act like that dude after a handshake." Edwin whispered to Wildman "Or has a head like he does." Wildman in turn pointed out Isoc's head design. "Oh, man…" Exeter couldn't help but overhear their little conversation while trying not to laugh.

Gate and the Maverick Hunters head engineer, Douglas were at the large aircraft, an Emperor with six Volvo-Saab engines within a seventeen metre long wingspan and a twenty-nine metre long streamlined body reinforced with titanium and aluminium rods, overseeing the loading of supplies; twelve Ride Armour units were already strapped down with thick cords connected to heavy metal clips as small metal crates of medical supplies are placed into the back by large, yellow quad-limbed loader mechanloids. A small stack of ballistic and energy ammunition are stockpiled in a separate pile a hundred yards away from the Emperor. Douglas rubbed the back of his head at the amount of material being loaded as Gate looked on, chewing on his lip. "You know, do you think X and his team need all this? I mean, some of this stuff can be kept here." Douglas glanced at Gate, a hint of concern creeping into his voice. "We got enough supplies to last a month in case we get isolated through a siege or power failure. We also have another eight 'Hawk' Ride Armour units in reserve." The scientist explained as the loaders finish loading the last of the medical supplies. Douglas kept quiet, unconvinced as he moved his hand to under his chin for at that moment, Isoc introduced X's team to the pair, both of whom turned their attention away from the loaders.

"Thanks Isoc, you can return to your studies now." Gate waved him away before focussing his attention of the Hunters, many of whom he never seen before "Good to see some familiar faces again, X." Gate referred to Edwin, Anders and Rexus. "They're all the best rookies Zero and I have trained." X referred to all nine "Alia and I gave them most of the information they need, now I need you to provide names and faces." The scientist nodded and focussed his attention to the group, and saw Alia within their midst. He swallowed an imaginary lump as he forced her from his mind. After X introduced him to the party, Gate reaffirmed the locations and explained thus "Commander Yammark and his guardian Blizzard Wolfang are appointed to the city of Kiryat Shomana to the north east; to study the infrastructure of civilisation in the aftermath. Blaze Heatnix is located at the Wadi Rum desert plateau in Jordan; the easternmost point after we received unconfirmed reports of. Ground Scaravich has been sent to Mt. Hermon on the Israeli/Lebanese border to collect samples from the soil; its possibly the most dangerous location – hence the ammo currently being loaded due to increased Maverick and Anti-Replod extremist activity and Rainy Turtloid is at the Gaza Strip; more specifically the Gaza coast, mainly for collecting water samples. Now any questions?"

"Back at Excelsior, Alia mentioned that long distance communications are off limits unless it's an emergency, why is this measure necessary?" Solaris was the first to ask, and Gate explained navigators are more at risk from viral infection as they had to connect themselves to satellite and cyberspace technologies, which were bombarded by Sigma's viral bombs – many went Maverick as a result of anti-virus programmes and firewalls simply being overwhelmed. Alia shuddered as she remembered the masses of virus warnings scrolling through her eyes in the initial attacks before she disconnected herself from her post, and the face of a navigator who laughed and laughed as her mind cracked under the onslaught of the senses, eyes wide as she howled in hysteria, head-butting her control panel until her head burst like an overripe watermelon.

"Any reason why the need for Mt. Hermon when you can find safer locations south of the border?" Exeter wanted to know and Gate explained it's the nearest mountain he could find, allowing for terrorist activities and operations and access to the Eurasia Crater is prohibited.

Anders then latched onto this answer "May I ask why access to the Crater is prohibited when it could be the perfect site to study the fallout?" "Fluctuating viral activity at the Crater makes a long term occupation by the site a non-starter as we don't know if anti-virus technologies would cope at such close proximity, especially after reading reports into the initial viral attacks. It is my opinion that the risks outweigh the benefits." Gate answered the question and Anders accepted it.

"What were you expecting to find?" Wildman got to ask after the words of the stories he read came back to him in a flash. Gate just replied "Well, anything that could predict the long term effects of the Eurasia crisis and develop strategies for dealing with them. I have no idea what to expect." Wildman pondered the scientist's response as the stories continue to come and go from his mind.

* * *

When the improvised question session was over and the loaders had completed their duty; X give his team of Maverick Hunters ten minutes to get ready for their mission. That is just enough time for a quick chat with Gate and Signas if he could get them alone; where nobody could pry on him, unlikely since the latter was still at Excelsior. "Did you find anything?" X asked Gate, well away from the runway. "A batbone I've modified for the investigation has found a DNA datacore well inside the crater's caverns and I'm running it through tests at the moment. But I think you should prepare yourself for the worse." Gate replied and saw X's expression fall away. "Thanks for doing everything you can, I appreciate it." The experienced Hunter laid a hand on Gate's left shoulder, knowing he was hoping against hope and was about to look for Signas when Gate called after him. "If you're taking Alia with you, can you look after her for me?" "Sure I will." X curtly nodded and made his way to Carrington's entrance, leaving the scientist alone.

Six minutes until departure: Edwin, Tusker and Wildman were looking through the neatly arranged stores of ammunition that had been loaded into the Emperor. "Dude, this would've been overkill but for Mt. Hermon." Edwin told Wildman. "Nothing we can't handle, right?" Tusker reminded him. "Too right, Tusk." Wildman readily agreed as Rexus entered the weapons store; his back bent as he moved. "Yo, big guy!" Edwin saw him "Check this out." He handed the massive Hunter a small circular canister from a shelf. "Bolt Thrower ammo, just what I need." Rexus cracked a smile as he helded it in a large hand.

Five minutes until departure: "Do you believe what Alia and Gate said about the virus and communications?" Solaris asked Blair where they sat. "I've seen a navigator go berserk when the viral bombs detonated, and I will never be able to delete the visuals from my memory. The laughter, the hysteria and the eyes; red and wild until her head and control panel were nothing but scrap that a cleaning Metool just casually swept up and all because she tried to follow shutdown protocols." Blair recalled from memory, causing Solaris to shudder.

Four minutes until departure: X was surprised to see Signas at Carrington. The commander explaining he boarded the craft to the camp while the debriefing was going on and instinctively knew what X was going to ask. "I did have a role for Alia here but she can be of assistance to your mission." He told X. "And besides; you don't need to thank me." X took the hint and made his way out of Carrington, leaving Signas alone to see Gate.

Three minutes until departure: "I got to say; this is impressive." Exeter looked through the anti-viral patches, downloads and soldering apparatus as Caitloin and Anders were discussing rumours. "Do you think X and Zero are like… more than friends?" Caitloin probed in a whisper. "I don't think they're like that but I have heard that X and Gate are both vying for Alia's affections." Anders also whispered. "I didn't think you were the kind who was into gossip." Caitloin wagged her finger at him. "Well, idle chat does go around, and Zero and Alia are both blondes so you could say that X just prefers blondes." Anders sheepishly waved a hand over his shoulder, trying to stop himself from smiling.

Two minutes until departure: Alia sat at the co-pilot's seat; her mind swimming in a mental pool. Looking back to her quarters at Excelsior when she was looking through the diagrams of X's Buster; each image becoming more sophisticated as the number and arrangement of parts increased in intricacy while its appearance remained the same. And the changing endoskeleton; just how does X activate each of his armours and how could she reactivate them? How much research does she need? She may call it emulation but in reality – she is trying to reactivate at least one armour; and the chip she gave X maybe her chance to do an experiment on him…

One minute until departure: X had boarded the Emperor and made his way to the cockpit where Alia was. "Well?" She asked as X sat on the pilot's seat. "Signas allowed you to join us." He replied with a smile, "Which location shall we go first?" "Kiryat Shmona" Was her reply and X flicked a switch. "This is X speaking." His voice floated through the intercom "Our first stop is the city of Kiryat Shmona, so buckle up and sit tight, and may your circuits never cross and your luster never dull." The intercom fell silent as everyone was already seated. The Emperor slowly started moving, and having achieved minimum take-off speed took to the sky and made its way to their first search point; two hundred and thirty four miles north-east of Carrington.


	4. Equilibrium

**Equilibrium**

The Emperor landed smoothly at the airport on the outskirts of Kiryat Shmona with the Naftali Mountains far into the distance, its engines coming to a halt as the plane came to a stop facing away from the city. Inside the cockpit, X and Alia flick down the last of many switches to shut down the plane. "This is it, X." Alia sat back in the leather co-pilot seat, looking at the landscape beyond them; a dry landscape all around them, grasses and plant life seemingly maintaining their stubborn stranglehold despite the lack of rain from a distance. "Yeah; we better have at least three Hunters guarding this plane while we lead the other six into the city." X told her "Will each of us then lead two parties of four?" Alia then asked, looking at X, the dim light of the plane barely bringing her blonde hair out from the gloom. "No, it's too risky; especially when I'm the only Hunter with more than a years' experience. No offence." X cited safety in numbers with possible roving bands of Mavericks and the all-too-real possibility of the atmospheric viral pollution getting to them, even with the latest anti-viral programmes installed in their systems. "None taken." Alia understood and opened a compartment by the co-pilot's seat, taking out a small hand buster and set it to its highest setting; 'kill'. "Well, shall we?" She asked as X opened the cockpit door, her hand taking a red folder off the control panel that she found during the flight.

Silence befell the Hunters as Alia followed X into the passenger compartment, the light casting faint highlights where it shone on everything. "We have arrived at Kiryat Shmona. You can now leave your seats, disembark and line up against the plane and I will give you further instructions" his voice, carried through the air by the constricted space. Caitloin couldn't stop herself giggling as Solaris nudged her with an elbow to the midriff as the young Hunters rose like cranes. Rexus and Wildman's heavy footsteps slightly echoing throughout the plane as they walk down the passenger compartment, the titanium floor creaking and the support rods shaking with every step, Wildman struggling to get out and through the narrow passage under the amount of weaponry attached to him. "Couldn't you two heavy weights tread a little more quietly?" Exeter groaned as the sound grated on his nerves before seeing Tusker marking her index finger across her mouth. He waited until he was the last, bar X and Alia, amongst empty steel benches that line the sides of the compartment, looking somewhat sheepish. Alia turned to X once Exeter disappeared from sight and asked "Well, couldn't Wildman just take his armaments off before we boarded?" X couldn't give her an answer. "Anyway; they need to know exactly who else they need to look out for and to identify them." Alia handed over the folder and X looked through the papers and photos before replacing them and handing the folder back to Alia. "Now, it's declassified." X gave a wry smile, feeling quite silly in his delivery.

Beside the Emperor, the Hunters all assumed the standard upright pose; legs together, arms by the side, head held high amidst the unnatural stillness of their surroundings and the sluggish temperature. Wildman couldn't help but see the airport ahead of everyone; the current building had been rebuilt and repaired and demolished and rebuilt again many times in the past, the most recent repairs were done just two months before the viral bombs, the reopening was supposed to be the day after the crater came into existence. Now the airport laid abandoned, newly installed systems, gates and fixtures all unused, all lined with dust and Wildman's imagination started to accelerate as he continue to ponder the fate of the maligned airport. All thoughts were then put on hold as X and Alia, red folder in hand, came into view; the sun is now higher in the diseased sky, shadows beginning to elongate in kind along the runway.

"Hunters!" X begun, his eyes and half his face in shadow under his helmet, and his voice loud and clear. "The Emperor is our, and the researchers lifeline and without it. We would struggle to reach our other destinations and unable to help those in need. So I ask for three volunteers to stay behind and guard it and its precious cargo." The young Hunters stayed where they are, thinking X would ask for names to come forward. X eyed each Hunter as he or she stood, their strengths and weaknesses well known in his mind "Now, volunteers. Step forward." X's command simply froze the Hunters in place, the veil of silence cast over them as they ponder whether to make that step.

Rexus was the first to make that step forward; large bulky frame, jagged armour plated and Bolt Thrower in hand. Stern faced and sharp eyed. He saluted X and stated his name. "At lease, Rexus. I need two more to assist you." Rexus relaxed his stance and remained in position.

Caitloin was the second; her petite shape, smooth eyes and medical and engineering training ready made for her role. Her gun was now out of its hiding place in her thigh, which then snapped back into shape as sudden as it opened. She also saluted X. He repeated what he said to Rexus. "Now, anybody else?" He simply asked, probing the Hunters between them and the plane.

The third, Blair, stepped forward. The slimmest of the trio; face obscured by his mask, and slender solder-like buster and lightly armoured frame belie his ability as an engineer. Nevertheless, he copied Rexus and Caitloin and saluted. X nodded and Blair relaxed.

"Rexus, Caitloin, Blair; keep guard of the plane and the supplies at all times. If a Reploid comes across here, give him or her medical assistance at once but stay alert whilst doing so." X gave the volunteers their orders, adding. "If you come under fire, you are permitted to use deadly force on the grounds of self-defence". "Affirmative" Rexus spoke like gravel and yet was paradoxically clear; Caitloin and Blair repeated in a neutral and soft tone respectively.

X focussed his attention on the other six Hunters and disclosed thus. "We are to make our way to the city on foot, one point two miles from here; some of us will command Hawk Ride Armours for added protection of themselves and those on foot. We will then commence sweeps into alleys and streets en route to the city centre for Commander Yammark, Blizzard Wolfang and anybody associated with them; we will also have to break into what were people's properties. Time-scale for this location is four hours, which should be enough." Everyone listened intently as he outlined the strategy.  
He then addressed to everyone. "Just before we prepared to move out to this location, Alia had been found a file with the names and faces of all the other researchers assigned to each location and she'll now pass this to all of you, and remember it well." Alia handed the folder to the leftmost Hunter, Anders to and he passed it on to Solaris after he absorbed its information and she passed it on to Edwin; the process of taking in the information continued until Blair passed it back to the navigator.

X finally returned his gaze to the Hunters he and Alia will lead into the city "Edwin, Exeter, Solaris; you are to operate the Hawks. Wildman, Tusker, Anders; you are to go on foot. Due to the distances between locations, our schedule is going to be tight and we cannot afford to waste time, and time is lives. Now, mobilise and move out!" His voice reaching its crescendo as he closed the order finally released the Hunters from their erect postures. The brief frenzy of activity saw Alia assigned to one of four Ride Armour units as ammunition was unloaded onto the tarmac while Exeter strapped a metal case to himself, carrying five small med packs, like a backpack.

After last minute checks on equipment and weapons, the expedition left the airport by the road, leaving the defenders with the plane, the sound of footsteps falling silent soon after the former had disappeared from sight. Rexus lovingly caressed the Bolt Thrower's barrel, his fingers running along its silver surface as though they were stroking the curves of a woman's back, making Caitloin's nerves shudder. "Rexus, stop stroking your gun like you were stroking yourself. Reminds me of a human I used to know." Caitloin winced as she said to him, her eyes shutting out all imagery and light and wishing her ears shut off all sound as Rexus stopped suddenly; a thought about asking her reasons formulated in his mind but decided against it and let the Bolt Thrower hang down by his side, but a large hand still gripping the handle, index finger on the trigger.

Caitloin finally opened her eyes and held out a hand. "Sorry for snapping at you like that..." She insisted but he held the palm of his free hand to her, "No, I should've been more considerate." He apologised to her, his otherwise stern face growing mellow and his voice sombre before facing away to the horizon. "Caitloin, what was that about?" Blair tried to put his hand on her shoulder, only for her to push it away. "It's nothing." She mumbled to herself, a video file threaten to replay in her memory but was aborted before it had the chance, only for a sound file to repeat continuously "You didn't know…" She whispered to herself, staring out into the desert.

* * *

The outskirts of Kiryat Shmona were littered with broken, rusting Reploid and almost skeletonised human and animal corpses with abandoned husks of numerous vehicles, prams, bags and all sorts of miscellaneous objects all scattered across the road and spilling onto the pavement. Scores of flies, bulbous maggots and large black rats all competing for what remains of the discoloured and deteriorating meat that cling to the damaged bones, the lingering repugnant smell registering with the Hunters while the soft parts of the Reploids had already decayed away, exposing joint and skull mechanisms.  
Exeter couldn't help but appear to stare at the grotesque spectacle, in truth; he is scanning it for information. He is operating one of four Hawk Ride Armour; Alia, Edwin, and Solaris are also in the Hawks, circling X, Tusker, Wildman and Anders who are on foot.  
"Dude, that's just morbid." Edwin whispered to himself as he felt an electrical charge travel down his spine as he witnessed Exeter from his position at the rear. X, who was walking just behind the spearhead, looked over his right shoulder and raised his voice "What he's doing could be of some use to Gate, so let him finish." Edwin was silently stunned, cursing himself for a fool forgetting that X may not be the strictest drill sergeant, but he has kicked out a friend of his for repeated violations and not attending disciplinary hearings.

Wildman was distracted staring at the tiny scavengers swarming over the remains, seeing their peculiar, erratic movement and queer colourings. And he took a closer look at the newly grown weeds, which appear to be shrivelled and grey wherever they could grow while the trees were wasting away, branches and trunks bending in abnormal ways, as though someone had folded them over and over and then straighten them out again in various angles; together with the sun looking so unnatural in the purple haze.  
But, unknown to the travelling company of Hunters as they continue forward, a pair of vacant eyes peered from a small crack in the windowsill in one of the buildings; a flimsy barricade of broken furniture separates him from the outside world. He waits until the sound of heavy footsteps fade away and even then, he comes away from the window, and rolls up into a ball, praying in the dark.

* * *

The only thing Blair, Caitloin and Rexus heard was the gentle whisper of the south-west wind as they scrutinized everything around them for movement, and each had a pair of binoculars from the plane. "I should've gone with the others." Blair griped bitterly as he continues to find nothing that requires attention, despite his constant head jerking that could wear away his neck mechanism "Why the hell did I volunteer for this assignment?" he continued to quietly rant, "Quit bitching, you volunteered to stay behind, just like us." Caitloin hissed at him. Rexus had finally paid attention to their argument and stood behind her, his eyes narrowing down on Blair. "In fact Blair, just piss off!" She snapped at him as her patience had gone. Blair's jerking suddenly stopped and he turned on a dime and stared into the horizon. Caitloin finally became aware of Rexus's shadow overlapping hers.

"Cheers, you can talk right?" Caitloin asked the tall, jagged Hunter as she turned toward him. "I prefer to focus on missions then idle chat. However, Blair was starting to annoy me too." He explained in his gravelly voice, somewhat causing a smile to spread across her face. "Yeah, I like to focus on missions as well." Caitloin replied "It's just that our assignment to going to drag on for God knows how long, while X, that navigator and the others will be in the city searching for that team. And I like to pass the time socialising with my fellow Hunters." "I understand your position." Rexus nodded as his gravel voice rumbled "I was one of five survivors from a battalion of three hundred that held the line in Zagreb during Eurasia."  
"Against a mob of Mavericks?" Caitloin found herself becoming intrigued.  
"Partially" was his single worded, sullen reply, closing his eyes as he slowly shook his head.

* * *

All the Hunters in Kiryat Shmona's suburbs could find in the silent streets were more festering, skeletonised human and broken Reploid remains; Exeter had been cataloguing every detail about every broken circuit board, every fractured bone, every fragment of titanium, every shredded wire and every piece of rotting meat. And he just got the feeling he wanted to be sick despite not having the capacity to vomit. He had collected as much necropsy data, it would be pointless to continue doing so, and even then most of the data would point to the same conclusion. And the time of death is consistent within the timescale; he could not gain any further insight if his father, back at Excelsior, was with him. A clanging sound brought him out of his reflection; it was Anders, the black tinted visor does not disguise his single minded attitude to his work.

"Anything you can report to X?" Anders asked Exeter as his visor was reflecting the Lifesavor's face, hand resting on the Ride Armour's left arm. "Just more victims of Eurasia; mainly the results of physical trauma from the resulting widespread rioting. Some Reploids even took to tearing themselves apart in a futile bid to stop the infection." Exeter warily answered. "Well, it's something Gate could look through." Anders tilted his head back toward the end of the street. "We've got another three hours before we have to return to our rendezvous." Exeter gave him the thumbs up as Anders went back to prying around empty alleyways while trying to step over all kinds of rubbish and diseased weeds spewed over the concrete ground. "It's not going to hurt you, you daft bugger!" Exeter called after Anders, laughing as loud as his vocal module would allow.

The smell of death swiftly escaped into the outside world as another door was launched from its hinges, snapped cleanly in half and landed with simultaneous thuds. X turned away from the resulting gap as Tusker taken the debris out of the doorway and entered the building only to leave again after a brief search. "Negative" she could only tell him as gruff as she can. Just like the previous thirty-nine houses; a tomb for families who simply waited for death to take them away.  
"No equipment, no bodies, nothing, just nothing" X felt a sense of frustration swelling in his core and time is slipping through his fingers. "We got time, haven't we?" Tusker asked as she read his face. "Not as much as I thought." He acknowledged her after a minute's silence. "We're getting nowhere here. They must have set up a base of operations somewhere." X had started to think about it, decided it made sense it wouldn't be here among civilians; although they would need to venture outside, well outside said base to gather samples. "Tusker, continue searching the area until I gather everybody…" X was suddenly alerted by Edwin as he was about to finalise his order to Tusker, Edwin came from an alleyway, his metallic chest initially heaving from the exertion, "Dude, you really, really need to see this…" Edwin finally spat out before he led X and Tusker through the alleyway, into the next avenue where Alia, Anders and Wildman, who were standing by the blackened doorframe of a burnt out house, colour drained from Alia's face. Exeter, sitting down with his head in his hands, feeling and fighting a powerful urge to vomit having seen what was inside and Solaris, trying her hardest to console him. Its roof, apart from five missing tiles, was remarkably intact, with a garage attached to it from the left; the looks on their faces all told the same story, the smell was unlike the stench that follows organic death.

Alia pointed to six empty fuel canisters and all sorts of incinerated debris, all dragged out, haphazardly spread around the garden "Whoever was here wanted to burn what was inside; maybe even to burn the house down to destroy it." She told X "Exeter staggered out when he entered the garage from the kitchen and… it's quite horrific." The mental image came back to her, shutting her eyes in an effort to delete it but without success, all this caused Wildman's interest to stir. "Affirmative, Alia; follow me, the rest of you stand guard until either of us return." X gave his orders and entered the charnel house with Alia following behind.  
The door to the garage was left open as X and Alia came into the burned out remnants of the kitchen, cooling, solidified masses of metal slag that were once kitchen appliances held their disintegrated essence as the exposed wood beams above them threaten to collapse sooner or later; the sound of crunching charred ceramic tiles did nothing to settle the ominous atmosphere and the smell of jet fuel hanging in the air. It wasn't until they stepped through the door and both shared the same sense of revulsion upon entering the garage.

It was a gruesome parody of a corpse; red-and-blue wiry cable-like tendrils that seem to hold the charred, twisted, buckled, stretched, broken pile of grotesquely misshapen yellowing and blackening metal together in a vague outline of a body, what seem to be different bodies appear to be seamlessly fused at the sub-atomic level without any obvious evidence of welding. What was supposed to be the head was pulled in all conceivable and unconceivable directions, optics fallen into their sockets, its chest completely caved in apart from white rib-like struts that seem to curl into a circle like an ammonite's maw. The fact it was also relatively unscathed was another unsettling factor.  
"I was just like you when I first saw… it." Alia's grew even paler as she wrapped an arm around him blocking the disconcerting air of familiarity it carries in her memory. X had seen many corpses himself but this was something else; not even the Zero Virus, which shattered the boundary separating reality from unreality when the strong concentration of viral data from the Eurasia's destruction slammed into the Israeli/Palestinian border ("Couldn't Alia just call the damn thing 'Sigma Virus 2.01" X's mind's eye spoke to itself, even if it would be a simple misnomer) or even the worst butchers could mutilate a body like this.  
"Exeter is still in shock and he has scanned all sorts of bodies on this mission." Alia said to X, both had regained they composure although the urge to finish purging the aberration from existence is getting stronger the longer they are occupying the same space as it. He looked straight into her eyes and told her "We need to take the… stiff, for lack of a more suitable term, to Carrington and let the staff there study it. But first, we need to know where the researchers are based." She simply nodded in agreement and headed out into relatively clean, wholesome air for the purple sky never looked so inviting compared to the scene she, X and Exeter had witnessed.

X looked closely at the vague body structure and dipped his middle and index fingers onto it, the brief moment of contact conjured the response he had from shaking Isoc's hand; a mental anchorage of unworldly hideousness behind a material body; a cruel intelligence that wanted him dead. He quickly withdrew his hand and shot up startled just as Alia returned inside with Exeter. "Y-you OK, sir?" the Lifesavor was softly spoken, his mental disposition disturbed, his body twitching as his eyes glance toward the thing. X nodded and gave him the thumbs up, despite his personal misgivings. "Permission t-to study the bo-body" Exeter had a shining hardness in his eyes that betray his shaky composure; fists rolled tightly as his body attempts to stabilise itself, his voice also hardened with authority that belies his rank. "I need you to be precise if you're going to study this thing." X warned him for he wanted to be sure the Lifesavor was fit enough to examine the corpse-thing. "I'm aware of m-my state of mind." he replied, a slight stammer continues to interrupt his vocal module, before pressing his case "Can we afford to let a preliminary study of this thing slip through our grasp? We can't afford to waste more time than we already have."

X remained silent for a moment that seemed to last an eternity, he realised Exeter was correct and reconsidered his position.  
"Exeter, take your time examining the body." X gave the Lifesavor his orders and stepped away from the scene, the feeling of hostility from, and to the thing lifting from him. Exeter crept toward the corpse-thing and compartments slid away from each bottom of his forearms, revealing an array of surgical instruments, as two halves of a protective facemask slide and link together from slots in his helmet. Preparations complete, he begun to work methodically on his subject.

* * *

Having reconciled his differences with Caitloin, Blair walked behind her and the hulking Rexus, whose jagged frame reminded him of images of the Eurasia Crater's Thornforest circumference. He looked at the large Emperor plane that brought them to the outskirts of this empty city, and then turned to the airport a short distance away; the concrete and steel construction whose simple complexion seems untarnished from his and his comrades' position. "Anything, Blair?" Rexus turned his head and asked him, the mechanic could only shake his head in disappointment and frustration, buster frantically rubbing against his yellow hair. Rexus said nothing more and turned his head back toward the sky, which had become a little cloudier since they got here, the sun almost ahead of them, shifting the cooling shade away from them.

Sixty seconds later, the three Hunters all heard the sound of a concentrated plasma emission behind them; they all turned around and saw nothing, the scenery was the same as always, the wind still gentle, the land still bone dry, X and the search party still in Kiryat Shmona, the airport still devoid of activity and Caitloin gently urged Blair to step aside and slowly drew her binoculars to her eyes. Closer inspection of the airport revealed a Reploid with a distinct dragonfly motif being chased by two others; both welding Buster weapons, discharging blue plasma which whizz pass the other. "Shit!" Caitloin muttered through gritted teeth and Rexus raised the Bolt Thrower upwards and pulled the trigger. A pocket sized sun briefly shone in the sky before going supernova, bathing the world below in blinding light. "Are you trying to attract their attention?" Blair was aghast as their eyes were adjusting to the dimming shine. "We can't afford to do nothing!" Rexus's gravel voice became an earthquake "And whoever those Reploids at the airport are, we need to find out what's going on, now move!" Caitloin raised her voice to just two octaves below Rexus's as she pointed to the airport. Blair didn't say a word but looked back at the large aircraft as he followed his fellow Hunters despite his reservations.

Although they were some distance from the source of the mini-supernova; they'd lost sight of their quarry. Barrison; a squat yellow and green Reploid with a chubby face, wide eyes and ridged armour took his binoculars and saw the large plane ahead of him and his partner; a slender, smaller red and black Reploid with a thin face, thin visor barely covering his small eyes and minimal armour. "No! We're out of time!" Barrison frantically told his partner, Sym; who nodded his head in agreement, firing in the direction of the plane, albeit downwards to avoid hitting it but still able to hit his target. "I see it!" he yelled as he took an empty plasma battery from his exhausted Buster and replaced it with a fresh one from a side-pocket, he immediately discharged a blast at in the direction of the plane ahead of them, a stream of dirt rising from the point of impact just inches from the object of their ire.

"Barrison, use your plasma battery as a grenade." Sym's eyes were wide with terror as the realisation of their impeding failure started to dawn on him and Barrison; the use of a plasma battery as a grenade is extremely dangerous and only used as a last resort – and time had just ran out. Regardless, Barrison took out his remaining battery and unscrewed its connector and screwing it upside down; a jolt of static electric crackled when he tightened the end. He took three long strides and hurled it, only for the plasma battery to prematurely detonate in flight as the static electric failed to disburse properly; knocking all three in the proximity off their feet, blinding Barrison whose eyes had short circuited from visual-sensory overload from the shockwave as he wasn't quick enough to avert his gaze.

Barely aware of Barrison's plight in their flight, the Maverick Hunters rushed to the aid of the winged Reploid until they finally come into visual contact, and Caitloin was the first to recognise all three as Commander Yammark, Barrison and Sym, the second of whom is rolling around on the ground, covering his face, his cries of distress all too audible. The latter had got to his feet, buster in hand and rage etched into his face as Yammark scrambled on his hands and knees to the Hunters and pressed himself onto Rexus, who felt compiled to restrain him. "Everybody is dead!" Sym spat out his venom before Caitloin could say anything, he pointed his weapon at Yammark and raged "And that thing is not Commander Yammark. Now get away from it and get out of here if you want to live, you assholes!" Sym opened fire on the Hunters, burning a gash in Blair's right thigh, causing him to cry out as he buckled to the ground. Rexus pushed Yammark out of the way and pointed the Bolt Thrower at Sym and pulled the trigger before the slimmer Reploid had time to react, his entire being erupting in a massive fireball; his burning, liquefying remains splashed over the airport grounds.

"Sym, what's happening?" Barrison shouted, blindly clawed at the barren earth, his eyes blackened as blood-lubricant is starting to slowly trickling down his face, momentum taking him toward Caitloin, who cradled him in his arms. "It's OK; you're with Maverick Hunters now." She tended to his face, wiping away the lubricant with a non-static cloth from a med pack before binding a sterile strap over the Barrison's useless eyes. "Rexus; I need a stretcher!" She called out for him. "Blair's down and Yammark's in a state!" He called back "Bring Blair here and calm Yammark and get me a stretcher for Barrison." Caitloin called back.

"Please, get me and your wounded colleague away from here." Barrison sobbed as Caitloin applied the finishing touches to the strap. "My other colleague is getting a stretcher for you; he just needs to needs to secure Yammark…" Caitloin was suddenly cut off when Barrison started thrashing around, panic alarms going into overdrive, vivid images playing and replaying in his mind's eye. "Kill it!" Barrison screamed so hard his voice crackled "Kill it before it destroys us all!" Caitloin rifled through the med pack with one hand while struggling to restrain her patient, she brushed her fingers against a sliver of metal amongst the sterile straps, non-static cloths and electric tape and removed it from the med pack; a tiny USB key with an anaesthetic programme and inserted it through a hidden USB port in the back of his head.

"Kill it, please…" Barrison's vocalisations begun to calm down and his movements becoming slack and uncoordinated as his higher functions are gently decreased, lulling him to sleep; visions and sounds of nightmare erased and replaced with a reassuring stillness. "Thank God, he's out of it now." Caitloin removed the USB key from his neck, seeing Blair is next to her and Rexus running back with one end of the stretcher in hand and his Bolt Thrower strapped across his back, Commander Yammark is behind him holding the other end. "Why's Yammark still with you?" Caitloin asked Rexus, pointing to the winged Reploid, his eyes vacant and cold, fixed in place on his face. "He didn't say anything; he just took one end of the stretcher." Rexus nonchalantly growled. "Well, we need all the help we can get." Caitloin reluctantly agreed as she is trying to patch up Blair's wound, the latter grunting in pain as his exposed senses reacted to the pounding of a nail gun bolting a thin piece of titanium to his damaged thigh. "C'mon, Blair, it barely grazed you." Caitloin ignored Blair's murmuring. "C'mon, I'll get you on board." She hoisted him over her shoulders like a fireman on duty, and was surprised by how light he was. "Rexus; load Barrison onto the stretcher and get him on the benches and strap him down and watch over him, Commander Yammark and Blair while I wait for the others." She pointed to him and Yammark, both had already got the blinded Barrison on, its polyester/cotton canvas supporting his weight as they lifted him and got on board the Emperor, with Caitloin with Blair following shortly afterwards.

Rexus did manage to abide by Caitloin's order and sat by Commander Yammark with Barrison removed from the stretcher and strapped to the bench opposite the large Hunter, with Blair nursing the titanium plate bolted to his wounded leg opposite Yammark. The investigator looked at Blair's leg blankly, without any intelligence behind them as his head still level to Blair's. "Yammark stop staring at me. It's starting to get on my nerves." Blair was vexed at the Dragonfly based Reploid. Yammark turned his eyes to Barrison, still asleep from the anaesthetic programme uploaded into his systems, his eyes still empty in their dull sheen.

* * *

Caitloin didn't have to wait long by the loading bay of the Emperor. She had her binoculars out and pressed against her eyes. She observed four Hawk Ride Armours coming around the corner of the large complex, closer inspection revealed two Hawks at each end of a rectangular formation, with Wildman and Tusker guarding the flanks while X and Edwin hold each end of a makeshift stretcher with a dirty, tattered blanket concealing whatever was underneath from view. X gave the order to halt and the rest of the rescue team stopped, even the Hawks came to a halt as their riders powered them down on X's command, bringing them to a halt. Caitloin put her curiosity aside as she observed Exeter's crestfallen, haunted demeanour in the Hawk in front of the team for she never seen a Lifesavor look so shaky, not even when they had seen so many of their patients die in the intensive care units over the last five weeks; this and the peculiar look of disgust on their faces whenever they glanced toward the canvas. Apart from that, the downcast bow of their heads of her fellow rookie Hunters didn't leave any room for doubt.

"Caitloin, are Rexus and Blair on board?" X queried about their absence. "Affirmative; we also have Commander Yammark and Barrison on board." She confirmed, "However; Barrison and Sym were hunting Yammark as though he had gone Maverick. Blair took a hit on his left thigh from Sym and Rexus liquidated him with his Bolt Thrower, Barrison was blinded by seemingly botching the use of a plasma battery as a makeshift grenade." She paused as X took in her information, before continuing "I patched up both Barrison and Blair while Rexus and Yammark got a stretcher from the Emperor; Barrison's strapped down and Yammark is stabilised. But Yammark hasn't said a word since we rescued him and has a glassy, vacant stare. But Rexus and Blair are keeping an eye on both researchers."  
"You, Rexus and Blair did all you could in that situation, you are all relived of guard duty." X commended her despite an ill-feeling crawling up his spine he had since Exeter found the base of operations, and now isn't the time to dwell on it for they did all they could here. Caitloin saluted on behalf of Blair and Rexus and retired into the seating compartment of the Emperor.

While all the equipment and supplies were packed and stored away, Edwin and Wildman were looking back on what they seen in Kiryat Shmona, or more specifically; what they found. "Wild', I'm still trying to figure out what the hell was going on?" Edwin scratched the top of his head, ruffling through his hair. "Could be the beginnings of a takeover by The Elder Gods." Wildman mused; leaving Edwin utterly bewildered. "You know 'Man. Sigma going crazy because of the Virus I can be certain of, But all this 'Elder Gods' stuff is crazy ghost story stuff." He didn't notice the cogs whirling in Wildman's mind. "That 'corpse' isn't a corpse as we see it; it's merely sleeping, waiting for the perfect opportunity to herald the coming of a new order of intelligence and laws that none of us can comprehend…" Edwin interrupted him at that point, waving a hand as he had no interest in the conversations current path. "Dude, dude, dude! No offence but this ain't the time or place for now."  
Wildman felt put out by his friend's outburst but conceded after what they'd found at the researcher's base in the school region of the city. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He mused again in a lower tone of voice, making Edwin feel somewhat guilty of his last sentence.  
"I'm sorry Wild'…" he laid a hand on one of the missile pods on his friend's shoulder, putting a smile on Wildman's face. "Nah, it's cool." The larger of the two Hunters gave him the thumbs up, relieving Edwin of his guilt trip.

The Emperor got off the runway after everyone was seated on the benches; a deathly silence came over everything after X gave a generic speech about their efforts on this mission. While the plane turned back on its original course, Commander Yammark just looked as still as he was when he got on board, eyeing all the Hunters beside and in front of him, Barrison was still asleep in between Blair and Tusker. The corpse-thing was left in the cool storage area of the plane, silent and still it lay between stacks of ammunition, med packs and the twelve Hawk Ride Armours under a flickering light.


	5. The Ichneumon Method

**The Ichneumon Method**

Gate settled back into the plain white bucket seat as he checked on the monitor's progress deciphering the datacore found within the hidden bowels of the Eurasia Crater and silently cursing its non-existent speed while a single filter silently cleans the air of impurities. He had thought of telling Signas straight away but knew he needed conclusive evidence of Zero's death. The number just increased to ninety-one per cent, the weight of certainty continued to press upon him unopposed by idealistic optimism. The sound of pneumatic doors coming apart redirected Gate's attention to Isoc carrying a red folder filled to capacity with a document. The fact that paper is still in use even after the advent of the all-inclusive electrosphere and the mind-machine interface was perplexing to the scientist until both were forcefully shut down due to the intense viral pollution from the fallout and the rapid lockdown in communications. Even simple communication methods like radio contact are potential cyanide to Reploids without anti-viral programming installed and even then, the risk of infection outweighs the benefits.

Isoc smiled like a wolf as the folder slipped from his hand onto Gate's desk, its thin red form stuffed thick, gently landing on its back, lolling like a tongue, the printed sheets all arranged in perfect numeric order and bound together with two red cords. Gate took the papers from the folder and was immediately drawn to the large bold typeface of the title.

**Z – A history behind the enigma**

(Gate made a mental note of the stylised 'Z', as it was a distinct motif that not symbolised the 'Reploid' – Gate knew that Zero wasn't technically a Reploid, but is referred as such for the sake of convenience – but also Unit 0, which he commanded until his disappearance five weeks ago – no, death, he kept reminding himself and even then a part of him wanted to be proven wrong.)

Isoc's wolf's grin and blood red eyes under his white chevron eyebrows seem to glow with anticipation as Gate slowly read the document, turning over each of the subsequent twenty-two pages, checking the monitor's progress every four pages. Ninety-two per cent, ninety-three per cent, ninety-four per cent… Gate read through the document again, looking at the monitor at the same intervals before placing it back in the folder and leaning back on the bucket seat, his face unreadable. "You know, Isoc. For all your promises of groundbreaking research into Zero's historical background and supposed links to the Sigma Virus, you should consider burning down what's left of the Amazon Rainforest as a hobby because your paper is just pure bunk."

Isoc's eyes flare like exploding fires as mechanical muscles work their way downward, teeth locking into place.

"Your paper is nothing short of a fawning teenage wetdream, overly florid to the point of obscuring whatever point you thought you had without even the slightest consideration of hard facts; your use of terminology is archaic, repetitive and padded out with the most outlandish technobabble drivel that would've been laughed out of a conspiracist convention." Every word of Gate's verdict was like the rapid pounding of a jackhammer on concrete, his tone a mixture of neutrality and the sardonic, and yet, his facial expression betrays nothing. Isoc found his vocal module refuse to utter a counterargument, his white, wiry teeth cemented in place as though with saliva. Fists so tightly rolled the tips of his fingers could have left dents in his palms. The fact he is still Gate's subordinate isn't lost on him and it felt like a turning of the screw. And then the monitor had announced the completion of its analysis of the datacore with a dissonantly cheerful tone that only adds another layer of kindling to the simmering atmosphere.

Gate silently turned his attention to the monitor and shook his head at the findings, he motioned a hand and lightly tapped on its LCD surface, commanding the printer opposite the instruments of the Eurasia Crater expedition to shed five white pages of analytical data, the printer did so and Gate carefully placed the sheets inside a grey folder; the appearance of intellectual triumph giving way to resigned defeat as Gate returned to the monitor, another series of hand movements and gestures closed down the analytical program, leaving the monitor for someone else. Isoc didn't need to guess.

"Isoc, continue research into Eurasia's environmental impact while I present my findings to Commander Signas, and X when he and his team get back from one of the research sites." Gate's command snapped his subordinate out of his brooding resentment. "Yes sir, of course." was Isoc's response as he seated himself by the monitor, refusing to allow himself even a smirk even after Gate left the room with folder in hand. The loud cacophonic whining of the alarm sirens breaking the all too fleeting silence; X and his team must be back from the first leg of their mission. Isoc didn't even move, preferring to reactivate the monitor with his signature hand movements, his mood unyielding despite Gate's absence.

* * *

Silence plied pressure on the systems of a captive audience as they continue to calculate all possible outcomes as the roar of the Emperor's engines die down and tires squeal with a trace of smoke on the runway, yet for all the composure they mustered they didn't expect such a dismal collection of artefacts from the procession from the Emperor, whose great engines have died down to the ambience of the wind. Two pairs of stretchers sandwiching Rexus and Anders, who are protecting Commander Yammark and carrying a small vacuum sealed metal case respectively. Alia followed behind them with another case and a yellow-orange folder under each arm, both stained in a mixture of liquids, the strong smell of kerosene lingering behind her and X and Wildman were not part of the procession and their absence sparked another wave of speculation, this time of irreversible environmental damage, eventual Maverication of all Reploids and the effects of long term atmospheric pollution on organic matter, all eyes on the charred eyes of the Reploid.

Caitloin thought she'd heard someone say something about Gate's investigators but nobody in the bustle of activity she tried to talk to would deny saying so, which struck her as being unusual considering the importance of their mission. She turned to Tusker, who growled at one of the Lifesavors for getting too close to the sleeping Reploid for her liking, before stopping just before Anders. "Just do as X says." Caitloin whispered to herself as the throng encircled them as a barrier of bodies and equipment, all prepped for invasive examination.

Blair, supported by Solaris and Edwin, frantically waved his buster at a Lifesavor whose helmet barely snug on his thin oblong head as if to shoo him away. "Let him see to it, man." Edwin told him "You need that dealt with before we go back out." Even Solaris, who found Edwin's mannerisms grating during the flight back, pleaded "Look Blair, I know it stings but he's got to check so they can check the store for replacement parts". Blair eventually relented and the Lifesavor disassembled the engineer's groin and cut away a section of the upper thigh; exposing destroyed nerve endings, damaged motors and a weakened hip joint. The Lifesavor looked at both Hunters, shook his head and told them "He needs to have his entire right hip assembly redone – I'm sorry but he's got to stay over here until the repairs are complete." Two near identical clones bar the fuller shape and volume of their faces emerged from behind him and took over from the Hunters.

Caitloin and Tusker's stretcher followed the same initial pattern; however, Caitloin told the Lifesavor team "This is Barrison, part of the team investigating Kiryat Shmona that gone missing. His eyes have been destroyed by a botched plasma battery-grenade conversion and I've induced an involuntary shutdown procedure with an aesthetic program. And right now he needs medical attention."

A Lifesavor with maroon eyes plugged a feeding tube terminating in an USB port into Barrison's shoulder and the monitor, inert until now, came to life in three bands. The steady pulsing of constant Energen circulation, CPU activity and Life Indicators confirm Caitloin's story. And Barrison is transferred to the Lifesavors and rushed to the infirmary with everyone not involved with the transportation of patients standing aside before following them into Carrington with Commander Yammark and the both bags of material that were handed to them with only Signas, with an unmarked folder in hand, and Gate remaining with them.

"Better let X know that Blair won't be joining us for the rest of the mission." Solaris told Edwin "But why the lack of giving a damn about Gate's investigators? What is up with that?" Edwin could only shake in confusion "If only I could get a clue from…"

A thought then occurred to him as if in a flash of inspiration "Wait a sec', Blair can be our guy on the inside, get the scoop while we go globetrotting in the Middle East." Solaris cannot believe she is going to agree with him but then, having known Blair since meeting him at the Maverick Hunter's Texan branch and trained together at Kansas said "How is he going to do that? He's an engineer, not a spy and he doesn't do rumours or gossip."

"Maybe, but something's not right. That's all I'm saying." Solaris felt her neo-cortex heating up from indecision in her head being asking. "Should we tell X about this?" Edwin shook his head and whispered words that caused her to baulk. "We need Blair to snoop around, get info while we go back into field operations." He reminded her in a barely audible whisper before going to Tusker, his usual, grating to her nerves personality returning to the forefront, the sudden mood switch almost had Solaris question her role. Never mind that X, Exeter and Wildman had finally joined the now empty expanse of desert with the corpse-thing laying exposed in the open air, the stench of unearthly decay had only strengthen since it first seeped into the Emperor's cabins. At least Exeter's face has regained some colouration and is less waxy. Nobody noticed Signas had returned to Carrington without saying a word, his attention on an ash grey folder.

With one hand on his hand of the stretcher, X mouthed several instructions to Alia; who having understood them told Edwin to join Exeter in escorting X and Wildman, who had volunteered to help carry the corpse-thing. He complied despite his misgivings, not that anyone would blame him. She then talked to the other Hunters, who then entered the safety of Carrington's walls until she came to Solaris and said "Make sure the way to the morgue is clear of traffic, we can only afford so many setbacks". Solaris's mind went into autopilot as she accepted, her legs mechanically shuffling as her ponytail swayed, the fraying strands of hair toyed by invisible fingers.

* * *

A Reploid who's chiselled bronze frame with ridged titanium moulded limbs inspect the three semi-sentient mortuary slabs with an anti-bacterial, non-static cloth as he strolls around the morgue. His smile flashing silicon teeth that clash with the smooth contours of his statuesque face. All the metallic surfaces glisten with a soft glare under the twin strips of light on the ceiling, the slab instruments stored away underneath their respective frames, a drain on the lower end of each slab prevents liquids from pooling and overflowing onto the stainless concrete floor, feeding into a single white pipe that feeds excess liquid into a septic tank in the sub-basement, large enough to hold nine tonnes before being safely removed and transported to an incinerator. The cold chambers on the northern wall has been designed to hold one-hundred and fifty mechanical bodies, the temperature set within the maximum so electronic data can be recovered from a Reploid's body for further analysis after initial enquiries at and around the crime scene.

He released the cloth from a large titanium hand as soon as the buzzer pierced through the silence like a javelin through air. The swiftness of his approach to the intercom beside the door belies his otherwise standard humanoid design and occupation; pressing a finger upon the button he lowered his lips over the mouthpiece. "This is Samuel, state your business." His baritone voice rumbled through the intercoms internal processor.

Samuel immediately opened the door in response to the reply, ushering X and his team into the morgue, making note of the inexperienced Hunters crowding around as the stretcher was placed upon the first mortuary slab in front of them. He averted his crystalline-purple eyes as soon as he saw the corpse-thing; its blue-red innards lay exposed within their twisted quasi-humanoid black-yellow metal shell like a limbless bisected rodent. No, a bisected rodent is still a rodent. Samuel's medical expertise in corpses reasserted itself in his mind as he pondered out loud "Just where the hell did you drag this from?" Not seeing the slab come to life in a flurry of activity. All sorts of cutting, analysing and storage modules on thin steel rods emerge from the slab sides and underbelly.

"Just the ruins of someone's house." Edwin replied, almost dismissive of its importance.

Samuel directed his gaze toward the green Hunter, glassy eyes still slushing like water before turning to X.

"Exeter examined the 'corpse' but could only get a partial result before something triggered his anti-virus defences." X told the mortician, trying not to look at the corpse-thing, "We'll happily provide samples if you request."

"Please do" Samuel set up a microscope mechanoid from one of the storage cupboards opposite the cold chambers, stopping himself from looking at the thing as the slab went through its boot-up sequence. He didn't blame himself for refusing to even look at the damn thing! "Please, place your hands under the microscope, and see to the Lifesavors afterwards." He said, not paying attention to Exeter's uniform, hand and the edge of the cuffs black as crude oil. Exeter nonetheless was the first to put his hands under the downward, watchful stare of the semi-sentient microscope, thin manipulators springing up from the cylindrical tube, powering up its sensors in anticipation. Only to scream blue murder as soon as Exeter inserted both hands into the wide sensor loaded slot in its thick base, its protection parameters going berserk as the manipulators jerk about spasmodically as though overloaded, causing the Lifesavor to jerk his hands out, cracking the base with all the force his reflexes could muster. Only X didn't join the chorus of gasps.

"Samuel, I don't know what the hell is going on, but you and your team need to examine that specimen and report the findings to Signas and Gate as soon as you finalise them." X issued the order, which the mortician accepted without argument just as the buzzer sounded again. "Sounds like they're here" Edwin remarked as Samuel opened the door for three Lifesavors and two technicians, their faces a mass picture of horror as their eyes instinctively glanced at the corpse-thing ejecting black liquid in jets with each cut from multiple surgical blades, the smell had become intolerable, the microscope mechanoid having shaken itself apart on the desktop above the cupboard Samuel had taken it from, some of the scattered, twisted and sheared fragments fell over the side, breakdancing on the floor before laying still.

"Sir, allow me to stay behind." Exeter spoke up, showing blackened hands and cuffs, his colour of his face bright as the moon. X remained silent, his thoughts returning yet again to Kiryat Shmona, back to that burnt out husk of a house. "Exeter, Edwin, Wildman; report to the infirmary at once." Exeter and Edwin followed their commander out of the morgue, averting their eyes, Wildman left five seconds afterward, still looking at the corpse-thing on the way. Samuel cautiously motioned his team to the middle slab as though they become a captive audience, their collective sense of smell disabled, watching the active slab's blue camera eye peering into the chest cavity with tiny blades and buzzsaws continue to cut out pieces into test tubes sealing and depositing them into a steel container, ready for the team's expertise. Causing more black liquid to spill and slurp, and pool over the instruments and swirl around the plug hole at the bottom, traveling through the pipe onto its long trek into the septic tank to mix with other stagnant chemicals. X never did reach the infirmary before Alia found him, her orders were simple and the message is simple: Signas has confirmation of Gate's analysis of the DNA Datacore found within the Eurasia Crater and he wants you to report to his office.

* * *

The stifling atmosphere in Signas's Spartan office did not relent and not because it shared very little of his characteristics at Excelsior nor was it because of the future's mounting uncertainty, and it only grew more dense in and out of the Energen generator that is his heart, as soon as he called Alia and relayed the findings of Gate's report to her. The report itself now stored in the oak desk's upper left drawer, its five pages kept inside its grey skin. Unseen digital readouts laying out the best course of action for all known reactions he'd expect from X with all the condolences his neo-cortex can churn out into a pre-planned response. Venus would be a great place to be right now but the die had been casted and life has to go on for everything depends on examining Eurasia's impact. Other than that hateful thing masquerading as a corpse that is now in the unwitting hands of one of the mortician teams and the two Reploids down in the infirmary, X's team had only obtained some scattered papers and rotting organic samples from Kiryat Shmona, it was a disappointing result. Granted X had a small team to search the entirety of four vast sites and had only been to one of them thus far but the near lack of data from the original research team was a massive blow, adding to the death of another researcher who may have gone Maverick for whatever reason. He was recalling the name of the Hunter who pulled the trigger from memory when a rapid tapping on the door alerted him. "Come in, X" Signas said without visible trepidation as the door made way for the Azure Hunter, he noted the despondent sheen in the jade green eyes but knew behind them is the steely determination that has dealt with many operations across the globe. They did the customary salutation that was hardwired into their training matrices, more integrated into Signas for his military role.

"Well, Kiryat Shmona wasn't the good start we all hoped for." Signas begun, trying to stall the eventual. "The timescale Gate devised may have doomed the mission before I received the initial report. The data your team retrieved is now being studied". As soon as silence returned, X snapped without raising his voice "You didn't call Alia to drag me in here for you to quantify the circumstances regarding the loss of all but two members of the Kiryat Shmona research team." The outburst had taken both Commander and Hunter by surprise, the sudden death of speech made the supercharged atmosphere almost intolerable with each second dragging on into the next the longer it remained silent apart the gentle slap of silver-grey on oak and the closing of a drawer. An imaginary lump formed in X's throat as Signas's unsheathed five white sheets of analytical data, all pointing to the conclusion that is all too real, even after he divulged the details to Alia, X felt somewhat resentful that they both knew the facts before him but then he had hoped against hope that it would never had come to this.

All hope of a miracle died once Signas replaced Gate's dreaded report back in its folder, the Commander's hardened eyes soften as he finally broke the silence after exhaling the oxygen depleted air from his mouth.

"Gate handed me this report just before you returned from Kiryat Shmona, I had to bring Alia in to decipher the logistics of the formulae, its conclusions basically say Zero is dead, I'm sorry."

In some way, it was a relief that X finally had some closure, a chapter of his life finally had an ending. Yet, all sense of bravado went out of his systems as reality opened a void where once his friend fought alongside him during those years. He remembered that Zero had died saving him from Vile but returned to the living after taking down the X-Hunters; but back then, there was a body to rebuild and a control chip that allowed functionality in an otherwise untamed mind. Now; there is no body but a DNA datacore and a sabre with a stylised 'Z' etched on the handguard: no chance of revival, just the memories of a friend whose life ended stopping Axle the Red. As for Sigma, he would've been a never-ending source of fuel for the demon. No sound came from his vocal module nor tears flow from his eyes, he felt numb as his mind reflected on the good times and the bad, even that one battle for the soul that he didn't even allude to in his report; after all, some things are better off left unopened in the memory than explored to colour perceptions of a Hunter who had laid down his life in the calcium-cybernetic crystalline unreality that are the bowels of the Eurasia Crater with its static sky and the Zero Virus, a name he wished Alia never coined, it felt like acid drip-fed through an open wound, the lump in his throat had turned to bile yet he finally swallowed his personal venom when Signas rose from the synthetic leather seat, the artificial lighting only accenting the obsidian and charcoal armour as the shrouded moon in the night sky and said "While I understand your frustration and position. By right I ought to court martial you for insubordination for that outburst but I will dismiss the notion for the sake of greater priorities." He allowed his mind to complete the train of thought. "We all need you to accomplish this mission more so than ever, not just because it's vital but also for yourself and those who lost their lives stopping events during Eurasia from going well and truly in the shitter." Signas made no attempt to excuse the singular use of profanity.

X could only comply with hope reignited in his eyes; Zero may be gone but he also gave everyone hope of unravelling the mysteries behind Eurasia, eventually rebuilding the world. He then put aside his misgivings and performed the standard salute; Signas replied in kind as the Unit 17 Field Commander departed.

The report was read through one last time before being wrapped in its grey coffin, the folder then returned to the oak drawer where the source of white light contracted to a narrow sliver, which held for a split second before darkness engulfed it.

* * *

Blair limped as he held onto the support frames either side of him, reconnected pain receptors still weakly throbbing with each step. He knew he would have to remain here in the infirmary in spite of the encouragement from the Lifesavors for the next twenty-four hours. At least the replacement parts have been recalibrated to his system requirements, and the pain would soon fade. Some small comfort to be safe alongside the maimed, infected and dying, an all too real reminder of his own mortality, he'd rather hobble around a workshop fixing Ride Armour and Ride Chasers or even go back out with the team to the next destination, wherever that may be. He just hoped that he wouldn't get shot again.

It was after the session was recorded and stored away in a technician's coat pocket and left him propped up and tucked up like a training dummy in a sterile bed in a cubicle did Solaris spoke up; Blair's neo-cortex sped up its calculations as his voice neared verging on formless static "I'm just an engineer!" was all Solaris could make out after the process of elimination and that just some words she could make out from the overclocked vocal module. Edwin did warn her about Blair's initial response and proceed by asking the Engineer "Don't you find it odd that nobody cares about the research and wellbeing of Gate's investigators?" The rushing of thought code stopped as Blair processed the information, "Probably just keeping their feet on the ground." his brow grew ridged the more he pondered "Can't really afford to build up too much hope-"

Solaris interrupted at that point, her brow just as ridged and her eyes like frost-bladed daggers. "Then why does nobody else give a shit about the success or failure of our mission, and what of Gate's investigation? Believe me, when I came to see you, I didn't hear a good word about Gate."

Blair took one look at the repaired limb, then another at Solaris, whose brow mirrored his. And the mutterings and whispers he used to hear in the workshop stream to the foreground and a link between then and now is forged. "What I have heard is that Gate ain't too popular; kicked out of Reptech for braking established protocols and ignoring requests to downgrade some of this Reploids. And before you ask, it's all third, fourth, fifth hand rumours… I don't see how much is true or what have you."

"Can you walk without any support?"

"The new parts are tuned in to the rest of my body so walking shouldn't be a problem. Pain is temporary, but I just wished Rexus didn't go off with that Bolt Thrower of his!"

For a moment, Solaris's complexion had broken down into gentle laughter, a reminder of life before Eurasia fell, before the Viral Bombs releasing their contents in multiple conflagrations, before Axle the Red had rose from an underground cavern in Ghana, even Blair forgot the firefight that necessitated the pooling of stretched resources for just that moment. And then Solaris regained some of her composure, the tail of hair swaying on its volition. No need to apply pressure, just a mere suggestion; an idea germinated from those links that may lead nowhere and then in a whisper "If you can't get anything from the researchers and technicians, then try and work along with the source himself."

Blair's eyes grew dim as he stared at his buster, weighing the implications of what Solaris, and unknown to him Edwin, is asking of him. Gate is reputed to be one of the most intelligent Reploid's ever produced with his neural processors boosted during production, and is a producer of experimental Reploids who schematics push the limits of his field, and of the evolutionary curve of Reploid biology; one is borne of expanding the mechanical and functional template, the other birthed by a form of Mechanical Eugenics to weed out defective units due to ever increasing Maverick incidents and activities. After all, all attempts of tampering with the human genome have sparked outrage. His eyes smooth over in their dullness, his decision made. Just as Solaris sat up and turned to leave, the engineer spoke "One last thing Sol' – if I going to do this, I'll need to talk to Rexus and Caitloin before X rounds up the team for another departure." Solaris smiled and left. Blair then whispered to himself, a thin smile hidden behind his mask "Take care of yourself, Sol'." Minutes went by and the door swung open and two figures, one large and craggy framed, Bolt Thrower in hand as though wielded into place; the other green eyed and brown hair encased in a helmet with a blaster in her thigh compartment.

"So what's up?" Caitloin coolly asked.

And Blair explained.

* * *

Alia held the black chip between thumb and forefinger before placing it in a USB key and plugging it into the monitor, her mind swimming between two different lines of thought as the joints in her fingers nimbly jerked back and forth cancelling the automated test run and altering several lines of complex code as an astounded bespectacled technician looked over her shoulder, who apart from some superficial details on the arms and the bridge of his nose narrowing into a stubby hook, is a near doppelganger of Douglas. Such as the complexity of equations and code she had seen as though it was like the back of her hand. Yet she continues to supress both as she read through her work. Highlighting more lines of digital formula before altering them with another frenzied movement of nimble fingers with strands of her blonde fringe draping over her sweat filmed brow as the world continues its millennia slow crawl in a maze toward one of two exits.

But again; those two lines of thought resurface to dog her effort to recreate some of the Falcon Armour's functionality, and they both share an origin. X. The first being an irrational guilt that stemmed from knowing that X's search had ended in failure before he did; of course Gate was the first to know for he had found the DNA datacore at the Eurasia Crater and he presented the result to Signas. The second, dovetailing into the former is the name she coined for the new virus that rained down on the Israel/Palestine border as Eurasia disintegrated and coalesced into a bolt of viral energies, altering the high concentrations of the Sigma Virus to the smallest bit.

She had remember of the reactions of X and Wilson as she explained her reasoning; namely the new virus had more in common with Zero than Sigma, Axle the Red may have the raw physical power but not the intelligence to spread the virus within its core. She didn't see Zero's reaction or even remember if he reacted at all. She never did broach the subject with Wilson but again she knew that he and Signas had a meeting during the crisis. She left her thoughts at that. And she tested the new alterations to the inner workings, her eyes sparked into a life of their own and her mouth creased at the corners before smoothing over.

"That's all good and proper, but the chip still needs its acid test." Alia said in a near mute tone as she removed the USB key from the monitor and closed it down. A burst of static erupted within the technician's spine as he caught onto the whisper, his eyes following the pink/maroon armoured navigator out the door, drawing his own conclusions…

* * *

While Blair recuperates alone in a cubicle at one end of the infirmary and X beginning his systematic gathering of the team; Commander Yammark had remained sat up on the bed in one of four wards housing physically and mentally damaged Reploids, his legs obscured by the standard white bed sheets with tubes connecting him to an E.E.G and life scanner with a burly Lifesavor checking the readings, finding nothing out of the ordinary before moving on to the next patient. Yammark's eyes have maintained their glassy stare, striking a sensation of deathly fear like the sword of Damocles into all who looked, including the other seven patients who have suddenly become aware of their mortality. Yet behind the vacant eyes, undetected by sensors and drowning all sensation is the gradual throbbing of something wet grinding away within the body, interference masking a malignant presence shifting and shutting down vital processes like defragmentation in reverse.

But still, a small spark continues to hold out as memories and the personality matrix turn to digitalised sludge.

One such memory keeps going back to Kiryat Shmona, a memory that degrades with each revolution of the core; a shadowed alleyway of rotten detritus but for something that gleamed in the absence of light, only for the memory to taper away into formless noise, the memory is replayed again, and again until it too had corroded. Nobody in Carrington would even have the opportunity to salvage anything from Yammark's neo-cortex.

The sound of knuckles rapping against the door jolted Blair's systems fully alert before he had the chance to sleep, the door swung inward, revealing the azure Hunter whom he shared one field of operations as guard for the Emperor that is currently being restocked with supplies, he thought he saw a tinge of weariness in eyes green as jade but with his mind coddled by the need for sleep, he couldn't been sure.

"How's your leg?" The steely commanding voice deleted the notion.

"Still getting the new mechanism warmed up, the pains not as bad as it had been."

X nodded in agreement; Reploids are not like other complex machines that can be sent back out as soon as they're repaired, they need to be ready for reintegration. "Sorry I couldn't see you sooner but I had business to attend too; since you're still recovering from that injury, I cannot allow you to come to any further harm outside until the Lifesavors are satisfied with the repairs." Two seconds passed in silence before X said in a warm smile "You're in good hands here; Exeter has been given the all-clear to go back out into the field – hopefully you'll be ready by the time we get back."

"Thanks" Blair felt his systems begin to tire again. X didn't outstay his welcome, closing the door behind him as he made preparations in the subconscious part of his mind. Blair fell asleep in the sitting position.

* * *

Douglas stood in command of several loaders and metools and a handful of engineers with a datapad in one large grey gauntlet of a hand as the replenishment of the Emperor nearing the end of the final stages; refuelling had been completed as was the checking and testing of the Eagle Ride Armour. Supplies and cleaning are taking longer than usual due to a miasma still clinging to the metal bulk. It was times like this that he wanted to get back inside and start fixing the malfunctioning gravity/hydrogen drives of a number of Ride Chasers. He was about to enter the plane when a shape, or rather a multitude of shapes came out from the periphery of sight. A turn of the head revealed X, Alia and their group of young Hunters trailing behind them, bar one absentee.

"It shouldn't be much longer", Douglas told X "But the cleaning Metools have gone through so much fluid just to get rid of some kind of smell."

X simply answered "We still got another three locations to explore. We'll take off when supplies have been topped up."

Douglas gave him the thumbs up but his expression left little room for optimism. "I'm going to be honest with you; I don't rate your chances of finding any survivors. If any of their anti-virus protection fails on them then you're better off putting them down." Edwin growled his disapproval of the mechanic's words, finding himself between keeping himself silent and thus sparing himself a lecture or telling the mechanic about events on their first excursion.

His decision made, he stated his case: "Hey man, we got two researchers out of Kiryat Shmona!"

Before X could say a word, Douglas turned to the upstart; his face showing only indifference as he latched onto the number and asked "OK hero, how did you save them? Where in Kiryat Shmona were they? Were they even alive when you brought back on that plane?"

Edwin found himself struck dumb with all the bravado sucked out of him. "We… we…" He tried to speak but the disconnection between his brain and vocal module laid further waste to his argument. He withdrew back into the group and sympathy was in short supply as X explained "We only came across two survivors at Kiryat Shmona airport after sweeping the city; both are recovering at the infirmary, it may be a while before one of them will talk." Douglas shrugged his shoulders, saying "I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I'm glad you guys managed to get some folks outta there but I'll be shocked if you can pull one or two more out in the others."

His expression turned to as if he might've eaten part of the corpse thing itself. The exact same expression might've been replicated on the blank, cartoon face of a cleaning Metool if it had the capabilities, waddling almost undetected with its brushes caked black with dust, yet the hateful stench of the corpse thing still clung on its cleaning apparatus. Exeter almost gagged on the smell as Caitloin caught hold of him.

"What's up with him?" Douglas's goggled eyes stared at him as though scanning for signs of affliction.

"If that Metool could smell, it'll be barfing spare parts way before now." Caitloin explained as her pointed finger followed the mechanoid. Douglas found himself feeling off-colour, turning his gaze back back to X. "I can see what she was talking about, it don't half stink!" Douglas told him, his face scrunched up like a paper ball. "Believe me Douglas; I'd rather destroy that thing if it made me feel better." It wasn't the confession that bothered the chief mechanic but the hatred within the confession. He didn't blame X for wanting to destroy the originator of that necrotic miasma but the fact that a corpse of some description had inspired this much anger in the otherwise placid commander, not even Sigma could bring out such an reaction. His thoughts were cut short by a dwarf-like Reploid; his eyes red as blood, gold trims around the elbows of blocky arms and a grey beard. The dwarf said "All ready for you to make one last check."

"Cheers Todd, get the lads back inside" Douglas replied as he took a datapad from his hip and rested his thumb on its crystalline face, a laser scanned the metal for intricate microscopic grooves. A list of objectives materialised following a confirmation jingle. He turned to X once more and said "Give me ten minutes and your team can be back in the field." "Just hold your breath." X smiled, feeling sorry for the mechanic as he entered the Emperor through the ramp, not seeing grey strips slithering over the exposed face to form a solid mask. A wave of anxious excitement overtook some of the young Hunters as time crawled upon air as others looked toward X for last minute guidance. X spied on Edwin and with a gesture of his hand, called him away from Wildman and Tusker, and put enough space between themselves and the rest of the squad and said a few choice words. Edwin nodded when he understood and rejoined his comrades, the faltering embers of a dying fire extinguished. X followed behind and was informed by Alia that Douglas had given the all clear and hoped that he didn't give Edwin a hard time over it. "He'll be fine" X replied, and ordered the squad aboard, the miasma that plagued them, the mechanics and clean up mechanoids was no longer within the confines of the large plane as they took their positions, looking back at the loading bay where their supplies are kept, even as X spoke "I know Kiryat Shmona wasn't as successful as we wanted; still, we've managed to obtain samples and even found two surviving members of a research party at the airport. However, both survivors are in no position to talk and Blair is recuperating following surgical repair. Next stop is Mount Hermon. Buckle up; we're going to take off shortly." The cabin door closed behind X in a chorus of clipping harnesses, followed by the roar of engines.

* * *

In the minutes that passed since the Emperor departed, Camp: Carrington hummed with activity with only Signas and Gate aware of Zero's final fate and both, other than Alia and X, kept the news to themselves in case the news would paralyse the facility but for entirely different reasons. They along with the Lifesavors, researchers and mechanics are unaware of the grinding wetness within Commander Yammark; now lolling on the bed as if his armour had become loose over his exoskeleton. Every revolution of the core is now awash with noise. Even the eyes have lost their distant sheen, now they were little more than coloured plastic-glass over a blind optics.

The other patients feel the scythe scraping through their nervous systems, causing spasms and tremors through their damaged bodies. A Lifesavor check their readings, plugging a small probe into the necks of a patient. The readouts record faltering life signs, producing a shake of the head. Even he became aware of Yammark's physical frailties, saying "I guess you're in no shape to talk about Kiryat Shmona, eh?" He then inserted the probe into the dragonfly Reploid's neck, initially finding no signs of life. He took a datapad from his hip and scrolled to a file, only to find positive readings on the tiny LCD strip. Putting away the datapad, he gently removed the probe. "That's odd" He thought to himself, observing the device in his hand. "I better get another from the supply cache and get this one checked." He turned on his feels and left, leaving the dying to their fate. The noise loops in Yammark's neo-cortex begin to decrease their screaming atonality, forming a semblance of shape, an alphabet of ones and zeroes in a tangle of code.

And then, the grinding wet began to brush against the weakening gaps – awakening pain receptors in the comatose body, yet he cannot scream for his vocal module no longer exist and the body had grown rigid, locked into the sitting position the Lifesavors have left him on the bed. The string of ones and zeroes continue to formulate into a set of directives while remaining in the dissipating noise; his sense of self, his identity is decaying. The grinding wet is continuing its relentless gorging, the probing of weak points until it breached them. Yammark never heard the screams of the dying nor did he feel his body breaking apart.

* * *

The seven patients clawed at the air toward the buzzers beside their beds as they witnessed fleshy strings of red and blue force their way out of the sitting dragonfly's armour, wiggling and creeping in the air. Thrashing with a passionate violence with every object they touch. Their voices were strangled by fear and sickness as death approached them, his crimson-azure worms creeping ever closer to them. Then came the explosion of metal tearing itself apart and the eruption of miasma as Yammark's head and chest open like a flower, revealing a maw of bleached rib like fangs, the wings being lifted from their resting places and gripped by the tentacles as other carved them into bone white blades. The strangled groans turned to dying screams when the tentacles found their mark, dragging the victim onto the ground as other tentacles homed in, manipulating the body, breaking it but keeping the vital functions operational and lifting it into its maw, its fangs digging into the metal, piercing the datacore but not the core. It only had room for one; there are six more Reploids and eight pieces of machinery sprawled in the mass or crimson-blue, digging into the groaning bodies.

Wilson, the head of the Lifesavor unit, held the inert probe in his hand then looked to the Lifesavor that brought it to him. "That is strange" he admitted "I'll have Lukas run a diagnostic on it when I find him; that said, suspend taking readings on them and move Commander Yammark to an isolation cabin. Surgical mechanoids can examine him remotely." Redgrave nodded and left for the patients he was taking readings from with Wilson's instructions in mind. It was only when he opened the door did he see _it_ and slammed the door before a mass of red-blue swarm over him but not before nausea came over him. He staggered to the nearest alarm and punched through the glass, shattering the atmosphere and a call to arms sent all personnel scrambling as per their training.  
Signas left his office during the commotion as Camp: Carrington flashes red in its need as Redgrave ran into view. He didn't know the Lifesavor by name but the terror in his voice said it all. "There's something down in the infirmary. I don't what it is but it's weird and pissed off whatever it is." Was all the Lifesavor said and Signas followed him, the miasma grew stronger with every step and Signas recognised it at once. The majority of Carrington's staff, most of whom are citizens, soon followed them down the corridors to the infirmary, only to find Douglas and a team of engineers crowding at the entrance, armed with handheld busters and magnapistols with their heads turned away from the otherwise clean entrance. The head mechanic's eyes landed on Signas and told the commander "Whatever's down there hasn't moved from its position but seven patients are with it and, well…"

Signas asked the standard hostage situation questions, only for Douglas to reply "This isn't a hostage situation, forgive me for saying but I wished Commander Yammark had gone Maverick…" "What!" Gate's voice could be heard over the alarms "What do you mean by…?" "That's not Commander Yammark in there!" Douglas shouted at the scientist, alerting a sense of dread in Signas's system. "Douglas, what do you mean 'that's not Commander Yammark…'?" he dared ask, knowing that the head mechanic had accidently revealed more than he intended, and Douglas knew it. "Sorry sir, we tried to get as many of the other patients before the smell got too much. We didn't dare go into the mental health unit." Douglas's shoulders slumped, tightening his grip on the handheld buster. "Douglas, get into the armoury and get a flamethrower." Signas told him and he understood, running in the opposite direction until the sound of metal against metal faded into the blaring monotony of red alert, bypassing Gate who had slumped against the nearest wall, head in hands. Signas pointed at four mechanics and waved them through the threshold into the infirmary, taking the lead as his left arm opened up, and a small antipersonnel cannon rose until it set into place above his fist. When they came to the alarm smashed by Redgrave and metal fragments scattered outward across a narrow section, he knew they were close. It was only when Signas crept to the frame and peered through did he catch a glimpse of the horror and reeled back before a flash of red crashed against the frame. He pointed to two of the engineers and pointed to the other side of the door; the first of the pair was an iron forged humanoid with a face of tanned leather and eyes yellow as the Sun and he moved from his position, again came the flash of red crashing into the wall, missing its target by a sliver. The latter, a larger humanoid with turquoise and pale white armour and a burgundy beard, was held back after Signas re-calculated the risk as a gargling growl resonated in the room that once housed eight Reploids, etching itself onto their memories with a programmed tip. "Under no circumstances are any of you to open fire." Signas whispered his orders to the engineers who all nodded their agreement and fell back, with the tanned face engineer heading further into the mental health ward where several sedated patients remained in their beds. The red and blue tentacles begin to probe its side of the doorframe, scraping against the metal in their wretched blindness before slamming themselves against it, fracturing the surrounding walls. Signas and the three engineers still with him retreated back into the threshold, their weapons still cold in their hands when they saw Douglas with a slender cylinder connected to twin-pressurised gas/liquid tanks by a black tube.

"Where's Clark?" Douglas asked

"He's with the mental patients down the hall, he's safe." Signas confirmed.

"What about the patients?" Redgrave inquired, his voice sounded tiny.

"I'm sorry but I needed a backup plan; I just didn't expect things to be this bad." Signas then turned to Douglas "Give me the flamethrower." All those surrounding him paled as Douglas removed the device off his back and put it on the commander, checking the straps until they are secure. They didn't – couldn't – utter a word of protest as Signas re-entered the infirmary with the bulky weapon on him, nobody saw the tears streaming down Redgrave's face.

A spark ignited a flame at the tip of the gun as Signas ran a million scenarios in his head, a million plans to set the room aflame and scrapped them all of them, all bar one as the cannon reasserted itself over the hand close to the trigger. He needed an opening and it won't give it to him unless his single plan worked, it had to work! He found the cracked frame bulging outward, and the sound of something wet slapping against something dry. The miasma had grown stronger, far stronger than even the corpse-thing that X and his rookie Hunters had found in Kiryat Shmona. He had to steel himself against the urge to retreat, to act out the act of vomiting, for Carrington and those working and recovering are under his command and it is his duty to protect them, even give his life if he must for retreat is out of the question, even when it became accepted that Eurasia would impact on Earth when Enigma failed and the idea of a kamikaze attack was rejected as unworkable but for a gorge the cannon's laser had opened in the great colony's side that exposed its core. He got close to the opening, holding the gun to his chest as the flame continued its seductive dance. In a single motion, he punched his cannon into the thing's lair and withdrew after firing three concentrated plasma rounds, all striking their target. White blades dance as the wiry red and blue become tongues of fire, lashing out indiscriminately, catching humanoid lumps of pseudo-metal alight. The gargling became a subsonic scream as kindling fell onto the fragments of Commander Yammark and rolled onto the bed, the resulting fire causing it to uproot itself in an effort to escape, walking on its blades as it jettisons burning tentacles.

With the cannon retreating back into his arm and the opportunity of attack now open, Signas rounded the threshold into the burning inferno and held the nozzle of the gun, toggling the safety catch with a thumb, in the direction of his target. And his mouth fall in the sight of the thing; a mass of still burning tentacles and blades surrounding the flopping limbs and loose jagged remains of a Reploid and an open maw of needle rib-teeth; within the maw of teeth was a black and yellow torso, head bowed and four red and blue doubles helix tentacles mediating in the midst of bubbling metal lumps now devoid of shape. In the space of an elongated second, the head looked up and it had no face, just a blood red corona set in a sphere of yellow and black, the tentacles unfurled like flag and its chest is a well of self-propulsion. With one last scream, it launched itself from its burning nest – straight into a blossoming ball of yellow flame, screaming its subsonic death cry as it landed with a thud filling the burning room with black smoke. Jets of fire retardant foam rained over the scene of destruction, starving the flames of oxygen and leaving steaming heaps of molten slag. Signas then found Clark with the sleeping patients. With a weary sigh, the commander said "It's done; let the Lifesavors evacuate these Reploids. I better have a word with Gate and Wilson."

* * *

The charcoal ruins of the room were sealed off and all but the most critical of patients are discharged from the infirmary with some Lifesavors keeping vigil over those remaining in their care while others teaming up with Samuel's morticians in examining the burnt remains, their offal sensors had to be deactivated because of the corpse-thing that is in the vicinity; the smelted remains of the seven patients that were with Commander Yammark were placed in cold storage for their turn on the slabs. All were stumped by the initial similarities of the pseudo-torso to the corpse-thing.

Gate twirled the DNA datacore in his hand, his face white as death and eyes red with sorrow and a rage that had been bubbling and seething like pooling magma. He eyed the Batbone on the table, its beartrap maw and cartoon eyes lying inert on the table. He placed the datacore next to the mechanoid and sat down on the white chair and rubbed his face before turning to the monitor and waved his hands over its LCD screen. He took a sample and slid it onto a tray, and all kinds of data scrolled across the surface, all showing signs of decay and metamorphosis in a way that intrigued him. And ties to two demons, both dead yet still dream of past lives. "Let's see if these put an interesting spin on that pile of junk Isoc calls a paper." He whispered to himself.

Signas sat alone in the Spartan office with the flamethrower in the furthest corner away, having resisted the temptation of looking into Zero's little grey coffin in his desk. He didn't blame X and his team for extracting Barrison and Commander Yammark from Kiryat Shmona for it was their duty to do so. But now a question formed in his mind, in fact; two questions formed in his mind: Why did Barrison try a plasma grenade conversion that prematurely explode? How to stop X from coming back to Carrington lest he brought another monster back? He calculated a million responses and a million scenarios in a split second and eliminated all bar one: Barrison will wait until he is conscious again and he knew telecommunications are prohibited but the risks are calculated and the choice is made. He pressed his hand on a concealed button on the side of the desk to bring up a screen and a keyboard and typed out his warning. He reactivated his cannon with a finger over the 'confirm' button. The screen disappeared in a burst of plasma the moment contact was made. All he can do is hope the Emperor had landed and remained virus free.

While three separate threads are beginning to take shape, Lukas plugged the probe that Redgrave used on Commander Yammark into the monitor, the screen lit up with and ran its diagnostic. Things proceeded as normal as normal things could be since the incident at the mental health ward. And then the diagnostic froze midstream and shut itself down. "What the fu-?" Lukas's curse was cut short when the monitor turned blue, becoming an angry black display of jumbled code. Wilson heard Lukas and looked over his shoulder and remained rooted, his face agape and eyes bulge as the visual noise slowly morphed into a list of directives, unnumbered and bunched up. Their minds sieved through the mass of letters and formed three distinct words; all forming terrifying connotations in light of the incident and the samples recovered from Kiryat Shmona. They soon saw with their eyes the directives listed in an equally angry red, in screen filling letters.

'…_consume…' '…infect…' '…replicate…'_


End file.
